Overview
- National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will chair the meeting with counterparts from the Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
- Seychelles will join as an observer, and Malaysia has been invited as a guest participant.
- Officials will assess progress across pillars covering maritime safety and security, counterterrorism and counter-radicalization, transnational organized crime, cyber and critical infrastructure protection, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
- The gathering follows the sixth NSA-level meeting in Mauritius in December 2023 and the signing of founding documents in Sri Lanka in August 2024, with DNSAs last meeting virtually in July 2024.
- India has led recent CSC capacity-building efforts through an oceanographers and hydrographers conference, a coastal security conference, a maritime law workshop, and training on terrorism investigations, trafficking and drug law enforcement.