Indian Ocean Rim Association

Regional · IORA

How does a European state come to sit on the Indian Ocean rim? France was admitted in 2020, and its coast on that ocean is at Réunion and Mayotte. Fourteen governments signed the founding charter in Mauritius in March 1997. Bangladesh, Iran, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates followed in 1999, and the five admissions since have been one at a time.

Questions about IORA

Which countries are in the Indian Ocean Rim Association?

Australia, Bangladesh, the Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Fourteen of them signed the charter in Mauritius in 1997. The rest were admitted between 1999 and 2020, the last of them France.

Why is France a member of an Indian Ocean organisation?

Because part of its territory reaches the ocean. Réunion and Mayotte both lie off the coast of Africa near Madagascar, and both are named in Article 72-3 of the French constitution of 4 October 1958. France was admitted in 2020. The catalogue files the French record under Europe, where the mainland is, and the association files the same state on the Indian Ocean rim.

What is an IORA dialogue partner?

A standing held outside the membership. Twelve states and organisations held it when the association's list was read in September 2026: Egypt and Japan since 1999, China and the United Kingdom since 2000, the United States since 2012, Germany since 2015, the Republic of Korea and Türkiye since 2018, Italy since 2019, Russia since 2021, Saudi Arabia since 2023 and the European Union since 2024. The Council of Ministers seats foreign ministers of member states only.

What was IOR-ARC?

The same body under its founding name. The charter adopted in Mauritius on 7 March 1997 created the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation, and the Council of Ministers meeting at Perth in 2013 shortened the name to the Indian Ocean Rim Association. The secretariat has been in Mauritius since 1998, moving from Vacoas to Ebène in 2009 and into new premises there in 2012.

Does every country with an Indian Ocean coast belong to IORA?

No. Pakistan, Myanmar, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Qatar and Timor-Leste each hold a coast on the ocean or on one of its arms, and none of them appears on the roster. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are absent from the membership as well and hold the dialogue partner standing instead, from 1999 and 2023. The association takes its decisions by consensus among the members it already has.

Sources

IORA Member States · Indian Ocean Rim Association. The member states and the year each was admitted, from the fourteen of 1997 to France in 2020.
Indian Ocean Rim Association · Indian Ocean Rim Association. The initiative of March 1995, the Mandela quotation, the founding of 7 March 1997 and the consensus-based, evolutionary and non-intrusive approach.
IORA Milestones and Achievements · Indian Ocean Rim Association. The pilot coordination mechanism of 1998, the secretariat's move from Vacoas to Ebène in 2009 and its premises of 2012, the renaming at Perth in 2013, the Jakarta summit of 2017, the Indo-Pacific outlook adopted at Dhaka on 24 November 2022 and Vision 2030 at Colombo in 2023.
Priority Areas and Cross-Cutting Issues · Indian Ocean Rim Association. The six priority areas adopted at the Council of Ministers in India in 2011, women's economic empowerment in 2013 and the blue economy in 2014.
IORA Dialogue Partners · Indian Ocean Rim Association. The twelve dialogue partners and the year each was admitted, from Egypt and Japan in 1999 to the European Union in 2024.
Institutional Mechanisms · Indian Ocean Rim Association. The Council of Ministers, the Committee of Senior Officials, the Sub-Committee on Finance, and the secretariat at Ebène.
Constitution of 4 October 1958 · Conseil constitutionnel. Article 72-3, which names La Réunion and Mayotte among the overseas communities governed under Article 73.
Mayotte · Encyclopaedia Britannica. The referendum of March 2009, departmental status from March 2011, and the Comorian claim.