Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (Ions) – 2023

The 8th edition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Conclave of Chiefs (CoC) was conducted by Royal Thai Navy at Bangkok, Thailand.

The inaugural edition of IONS was held in Feb 2008 at New Delhi, with the Indian Navy as the Chair for two years.
IONS is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of the littoral states (states with coast) of the Indian Ocean Region.
IONS provides an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues.

As a first, Flag designed by India was selected as the IONS Flag.

The members have been geographically grouped into the following four sub-regions:
South Asian Littorals - Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom (British Indian Ocean Territory).
South East Asian and Australian Littorals - Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
East African Littorals - France (Reunion), Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania.
West Asian Littorals - Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
India also took over as the co-Chair of IONS Working Groups on Maritime Security.
Republic of Korea Navy was welcomed by the Conclave as the latest ‘Observer’, raising the collective strength of IONS to 34 (25 Members & 09 Observers).

India is also scheduled to take over as the Chair of IONS (2025-27) during 9th CoC planned to be conducted in India in end 2025.

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