Harness sea's potential: Gadkari to Indian Ocean littoral

Urging countries of the Indian Ocean region to harness the vast potential of the sea and become "masters of their fate", Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said India has embarked on a journey to revive its waterfronts.
"Countries of the region can become the masters of their fate once again, not dictated by superior military powers from outside," Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Gadkari said.
He was speaking at a conference here that was attended by Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan.
Gadkari said India, with its coastline of 7,500 km and 1,200 island territories, is and has always been a maritime nation. He cited the example of Lothal in Gujarat which was one of the earliest seaports in the world.

"Lothal in Gujarat was one of the earliest seaports in the world and our ancient Sanskrit texts refer to oceans as the storehouse of Chaturdashanam Ratnanam -- the 14 gems," Gadkari said, addressing the conference attended by representatives from 30 nations.
He said 90 per cent of India's trade by volume and 90 per cent of its oil imports are carried on the seas.

"We live in a world where the strategic and economic pivots are shifting to make the Indo-Pacific generally and the IOR (Indian Ocean Region) more specifically the centre stage of virtually every major power," he said.

However, he said while the attention of other countries on IOR is fairly recent, India has maintained trade and civilizational links with other countries in the region since time immemorial.
"These links were developed without recourse to military conquest, instead by people-to-people engagements," he said, asserting the need to revive them.
He said India believed its neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean littoral can be partners in growth.
The minister said through ambitious Sagarmala project, India is committed to building infrastructure in other littoral countries to create onward connectivity from India.
"We have established a Special Purpose Vehicle to take up maritime projects overseas. We have also signed a coastal shipping agreement with Bangladesh and are developing the Chahbahar port in Iran, which would act as the gateway to the world not only for Afghanistan but also for the Central Asian Republics," he said.

Terming this as an "exciting" time to partner with India, he said the country is currently going through a phase of rapid transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"None of us can grow in isolation, and building synergies has always been a win-win situation for all partners. Your development priorities will guide our engagement; not our perception of your needs," he said.