SPEECH ON THE OCCASION OF THE IORIS INDIAN OCEAN CONFERENCE, SEYCHELLES COAST GUARD AUDITORIUM,

It is an honour to be opening this conference and I wish to thank you for joining with us in the first IORIS Indian Ocean gathering.  But before we explore the benefits of IORIS, I wish on behalf of President Wavel Ramkalawan and the Government of Seychelles thank the European Union for the sustained cooperation that Seychelles and the European Union have enjoyed for well over a decade in the maritime field.

The cooperation, especially with EUNAVFOR Atalanta has been quintessential to addressing piracy, and now, forms the bedrock to addressing other maritime crimes in the region.  Another more recent example is the joining of forces with the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), to address sustainable fisheries by training conducted for Somali fisheries officials.

Seychelles’ close relationships with CRIMARIO since its inception is another area of cooperation that strengthens core resolve, to meet the wide range of crime in our maritime zones.  And the fluidity of crime requires secure operational communications between partners.  The IORIS platform provides this added security requirement.  Being user-friendly, it facilitates collaboration between countries, cultures, agencies, allowing partners to conduct business in a harmonized manner.

IORIS is now present in over 21 countries, 3 international organisations amongst NGO’s and various industries.  This tool is growing into a community of like-minded users exploiting the system to intensify inter-operational tasks.

The platform was launched in Seychelles in 2018, and it has been supported by the Indian Ocean Commission Centres, namely the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre and the Regional Centre for Operational Coordination.  The platform has also supported countless regional operations and exercises, including the US led series of Cutlass Express exercises.  And it is only in re-enforcing mutual support amongst us that will bring success to the present maritime threats.  It has been done before in tackling piracy, it can now equally happen.

You will discover during this conference, the IORIS standardized approach to doing business at both inter-agency and regional level, addressing maritime security and safety and sustainable fisheries, irrespective of whether inside or outside exclusive economic zones, territorial seas, the littoral and ports.

So to conclude, allow me once again to thank all participants from near and afar, CRIMARIO for organizing this conference; namely Mr. Martin Cauchi-Inglott and his team.  As we look forward to examining how, together, we can exploit the system further and expand this growing network.

I therefore wish you all a very fruitful conference. Thank you.