The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) is a series of biennial meetings between the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region. It provides a forum to increase maritime security cooperation, discuss regional maritime issues, and promote friendly relationships among the member states.
History The symposium was first held in 2008 with India as host. The chairmanship and location of the Symposium rotates between the various member states.journals.christuniversity.in/index.php/artha/article/download/1569/1314 Each term of chairmanship is two years.
Role IONS is a security construct for the Indian Ocean region which is similar to the Western Pacific Naval Symposium. It is a voluntary initiative among the navies and maritime security agencies of the member nations. In addition to the symposiums, numerous other activities like workshops, essay competitions and lectures are also held under the umbrella of the organization.
Members and observers
The 25 member nations of the IONS are grouped into four sub-regions.
Members Sub regionMemberAccessionSouth AsianFebruary 2008March 2014West AsianEast AfricanSouth East Asian and Australian
Observers There are nine states with observer status
List of symposiums YearEditionHostDatesNotes20081st14–16 February 200820102nd10–12 May 201020123rd10–14 April 201220144th26 March 201420165th11–13 January 201620186th22–25 April 201820217th Réunion and ParisJune 202120238th Thailand 19–22 December 202320259th 20 February 2026 The 7th edition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium was held at Réunion, France. But during that, it was agreed upon to conduct the extant conclave of Chiefs in Paris. Eventually, in November 2021 the conclave was concluded in Paris, France.
The ninth edition of IONS Conclave of Chiefs hosted in Visakhapatnam, simultaneously with the International Fleet Review 2026 and exercise MILAN 2026, had Chiefs of Navies and Heads of Maritime Security Agencies from 33 countries. During the conclave, the Philippines joined as an observer while Oman joined the IONS Working Group on HADR.
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