The Australia India Institute hosted a delegation of four Indian Ocean and South Asia security experts from India in November. During the 10-day visit, the four experts engaged with a broad spectrum of think tank, academic and policy professionals in Canberra, Sydney and Perth, forming people-to-people links and fostering deeper bilateral connections with Australian counterparts.
As part of this visit, the Institute co-hosted the “Policy Implications: Indian Ocean Security and South Asia” Roundtable on 10 November, 2025 in partnership with the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Participants gave presentations on their respective areas of expertise, spanning from Defence Innovation ties, Renewable Energy corridors, Partnership in the Indian Ocean and connections with the Maldives, stimulating greater dialogue on the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
Our visiting experts are:
- Mr Rahul Bhatia, South Asia Analyst at Eurasia
- Ms Sinu Kunjumon, Faculty Member in the Department of Political Science at St. John’s College, Anchal, Kerala, India
- Dr Smruti S Pattanaik, Research Fellow (SS), Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
- Mr Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, Associate Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme’s Neighbourhood Studies Initiative
Objectives
This roundtable afforded each of the four visiting experts a platform to present unique research findings on an area of Australia India bilateral cooperation in the Indian Ocean and South Asia. From these four presentations a discussion focused on:
- Security challenges in the Indian Ocean region over the next decade
- Multi-layered cooperation through multilateral, minilateral, and bilateral arrangements
- Factors inhibiting more effective cooperation in the Indian Ocean
