UN Ocean Conference side event on “Leveraging South-South and triangular cooperation to advance
the Blue Economy Agenda in SIDS”.

INDIA STATEMENT 

Excellencies, colleagues and participants. 

    I thank the UN Office for South-South Cooperation for organizing this important side event on the margins of the UN Ocean Conference. We attach great importance to this subject. India as you may be aware, has a unique maritime position comprising of over 7500 kilometers of coastline; and encompassing nine coastal states and about 1400 islands. 
2.    In my remarks, I will try to explain why Blue Economy is a priority for us and how India is assisting in a modest way, SIDS countries in advancing Blue Economy agenda. 

3.    India’s Exclusive Economic Zone of over two million square kilometers is rich in living and non-living resources. The coastal economy also sustains over 4 million fishermen and other coastal communities. Our 12 major ports and 187 non-major ports, handle about 1400 million tons of cargo every year. 95% of India’s trade by volume, transits by sea. With these vast maritime interests, the Blue Economy in India has a vital relationship with the nation’s economic growth. And we have experiences to share.

4.    In recent years, India has launched a series of initiatives for sustainable development in the maritime domain. These initiatives include programmes such as  “Deep Ocean Mission,” “Oceanography from space” and “Launching of the data buoys” along the Indian coastline. We have also joined United Nations on the “Clean Seas Programme” to develop strategies for estimating and reducing Marine Litter/Plastic in the oceans, which is a part of SDG-14.

5.    We have also implementing projects concerning ocean and coastal management. These are "SAGARMALA", "SAGAR" AND "MAUSAM" and focuses on port development, maritime security and development and cultural connectivity, respectively. Working Groups have been formed to identify  key issues and challenges related to each sector underpinning the Blue Economy. India has also hosted 3 editions of the Indian Ocean Dialogue, a track 1.5 forum promoting conversations among all stakeholders. 

Excellencies,

6.    The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on countries and regions, particularly on Small Island Developing States. SIDS are also on the frontlines of climate change. SIDS have also been among the worst hit developing economies in economic and fiscal terms, largely due to global contraction in two ocean economy sectors: coastal tourism and fisheries.

7.    Effective support from the international development community is therefore vital, to SIDS countries. The potential stress on available international development resources makes it important to have tailored and smart deployment of these resources. 

8.    This means that support must focus on fostering a recovery that addresses SIDS’ most critical structural challenges, enhancing the resilience and sustainability of existing key economic sectors, building capacity and skill, and fostering economic diversification by unlocking new development opportunities, such as in the digital space and in the Blue Economy, that are aligned with their national priorities.

9.    India’s broad-based development cooperation with SIDS has followed this approach. Apart from two summits earlier under the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPC), India organized in 2019 the first India-PSIDS and India-CARICOM leader’s meeting in New York. At this meeting, India announced a US$26 million grant to CARICOM and PSIDS for high impact developmental projects in the areas of their choice. In addition, concessional Lines of Credit of US$300 Million was announced which can be availed for undertaking inter alia, solar, renewable energy and climate related projects.

10.    During the Glasgow COP26, India launched the ‘Infrastructure for Resilient Island States’ (IRIS) initiative, which aims to provide technical support on the issues posed by infrastructure systems and promote disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure assets in Small Island developing states. India has also announced a special data window to be set up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to get timely information about cyclones, coral-reef monitoring, coast-line monitoring through satellite.

11.    An effort worth highlighting has been the US$ 150 million India-UN Development Partnership Fund, managed by UNOSSC that continues to support South-owned and South-led sustainable development projects with a focus on LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. The Fund has a portfolio of 66 projects in 52 countries. As part of Covid response, the India-UNDP Fund has commissioned projects in 15 countries ranging from Antigua & Barbuda in the Caribbean to Palau in the South Pacific.

12.    Another unique mechanism demonstrating the relevance and vitality of South-South Cooperation is the India-Brazil-South Africa Fund - also hosted at the UNOSSC. Since its inception, it has allocated over US $44 million, supporting 39 South-South cooperation development projects in 35 partner countries with the majority of them being Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and SIDS. 

13.    Our ongoing capacity building and economic assistance under flagship Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme has provided also many SIDS countries access to satellite based information on potential fishing zones for promoting efficient fishing. As part of UNESCO initiative to promote ocean bio-diversity, access to Ocean Bio-geographic Information System (OBIS) has also been provided, generating more than 120,000 records of species from the Indian Ocean region. For the benefit of SIDS, we have also organized regional and global workshops on assessment of the coastal marine environment in the Indian Ocean region.

14.    Let me conclude by stating that we are conscious of SIDS’ priorities and requirements; and will do our best to see how we can partner with them in the quest of advancing Blue Economy through South-South Cooperation. Thank you.