1. The Indian Coast Guard along with the Regional Cooperation Agreement for Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ship in Asia (ReCAAP), Information Sharing Centre (ISC) co-hosted the Capacity Building Workshop at Goa from 15–17 Nov 2011. The ReCAAP is the first government to government instrument, which deals with the issue of combating piracy and armed robbery. Based on the three pillars viz information sharing, capacity building and cooperative arrangements amongst the Contracting States the agreement aims at facilitating smooth flow of information on incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia. Being the fifth in the series, the workshop was attended by 39 participants from 21 countries including, International Maritime Organisation and Project Implementation Unit, Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC). This is the first time the workshop was held in India.
2. In an effort to build up the capacity of its Focal Points and share best practices for development of compatible standard operating procedures, ReCAAP ISC conducts Capacity building Workshop every year. Representatives of the Focal Points, Member State Agencies, shipping industry, observers from international bodies including IMO are invited to the workshop to refine the process of existing information flow mechanism for expeditious and prompt delivery of response to an incident.
3. During the opening address, Vice Admiral MP Muralidharan, AVSM,NM, Director General Indian Coast Guard, who is also the Indian Governor to the ReCAAP ISC Governing Council, recognized the efforts of ReCAAP ISC towards developing the cooperative framework to address the menace of piracy and armed robbery and facilitating information exchange between the various stake holders. He also highlighted the Indian efforts in combating piracy and armed robbery against ships in Indian waters. Early, this year based on the information received through ReCAAP ISC, the Indian Coast Guard, which is also the ReCAAP Focal Point of India, successfully carried out anti-piracy operations leading to apprehension of 121 pirates and rescue of the crew, who were held hostage for many months.
4. LTC (Retd.) Nicholas Teo, Deputy Director ReCAAP ISC in his opening remarks recognized the steps taken by Indian Agencies including Indian Coast Guard to ensure safe and secure seas for the seafarers. He also conveyed that information sharing is a shared responsibility of the governments and the shipping industry and the purpose of information sharing would be better served if it is accurate and timely.
5. The delegates at the workshop shared various perspectives on dealing with the scourge of piracy and charted a way ahead for enhancing the response to deal with incidents of piracy and armed robbery in Asian waters. The workshop culminated with an anti-piracy exercise held off Goa by ICG ships and aircraft, which provided firsthand experience to the participants on conduct of anti-piracy operations at sea and real time flow of information from the scene of incident.
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