India chairs this 23-country grouping today. It also wrote the group’s core rulebook, back in 2011.
🕰️ Timeline
1997-2013 — Founding and Renaming
- 6-7 Mar 1997 The Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) is formally launched in Mauritius, through a founding Charter.
- 1 Nov 2013 At a Council of Ministers meeting in Perth, IOR-ARC is renamed IORA.
2017-2025 — Summit and India’s Chairmanship
- 5-7 Mar 2017 IORA holds its first-ever Leaders’ Summit, in Jakarta. Leaders sign the Jakarta Concord.
- Nov 2025 India takes over as IORA’s Chair, from Sri Lanka, for a two-year term.
✊ Must Know
What IORA Is and When It Formed
- Name IORA stands for the Indian Ocean Rim Association. It was formally launched in March 1997, in Mauritius, initially as IOR-ARC.
- Renamed The group was renamed IORA in November 2013.
Membership and Headquarters
- Members IORA has 23 member states, and 12 dialogue partners.
- HQ Its Secretariat is headquartered in Ebene, Mauritius.
💡 Good to Know
Origins and Founding Members
- Origins IORA began as an idea shared between India and South Africa, in the early 1990s.
- Founders Fourteen countries were founding members, when the group launched in 1997.
Governance and the Jakarta Concord
- COM The Council of Ministers (COM) is IORA’s apex decision-making body.
- Jakarta IORA’s first-ever Leaders’ Summit was held in Jakarta, in March 2017. Leaders signed the Jakarta Concord there, charting the group’s future direction.
Test Yourself
🌟 Great to Know
India’s Two Terms as Chair
- First term India chaired IORA once before, from 2011 to 2013. During that term, India identified IORA’s six priority areas, and two cross-cutting focus areas. Both sets are still used today.
- Second term India took over as Chair again in November 2025, for a 2025-27 term.
📰 Current Affairs
India Hosts the 10th Indian Ocean Dialogue, May 2026
- 7-8 May 2026 India hosts the 10th Indian Ocean Dialogue, in New Delhi, themed “Indian Ocean Region in a Transforming World.”
- Organisers The Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Council of World Affairs jointly organised the event, as IORA’s flagship track 1.5 dialogue.
- Topics Sessions covered maritime security, the blue economy, disaster risk management, trade and investment, climate change, and women’s empowerment.
📝 Previous Year Questions
UPSC CSP 2015 — What IOR-ARC Actually Is
- UPSC 2015 The correct answer is Neither 1 nor 2. IORA was established in March 1997, not very recently, and its founding wasn’t a direct response to piracy or oil-spill incidents. It also isn’t a maritime-security-only alliance — it covers trade, fisheries, tourism, and academic and cultural exchange too. See UPSC CSP 2015 GS Paper I, Q67.
Beyond the answer
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