• Suman Malik

In October 2021, the Foreign Ministers of India, Israel, UAE, and the US established a formal organization, I2U2. It is a major shift in the direction of the collaboration on trade, climate change action, energy, space, health, transportation, food security, and also maritime security. In India’s perspective, the group will facilitate New Delhi’s strategic ties with the member-countries and the opportunities to accelerate its presence in the Indian Ocean region, which is currently a key strategic region due to geo-politics and geo-economics. With approximately a share of 19.8% of the water, the Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean, and encircles Asia to the north, Africa to the west, and Australia to the east. From a strategic point of view, this region is important as one-third of the world’s population resides here and it contains 25 percent of the landmarks and 40 percent of the world’s oil and gas reserve. However, with a rising China in the region with its influence and domination, there obviously have certain obstacles. The paper explores India’s role with the I2U2 group, aiming to assess India’s maritime strategic opportunities and discusses the prospects of its balanced approach in the region.

India, I2U2, maritime security strategy, Indian Ocean region, China

"India`s Maritime Security & I2U2: Amidst Rising Chinese Influence in the IOR", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 4, page no.l153-l158, April-2024, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2404B22.pdf

"India`s Maritime Security & I2U2: Amidst Rising Chinese Influence in the IOR", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 4, page no. ppl153-l158, April-2024, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2404B22.pdf