Australia, India and Indonesia’s trilateral partnership has the potential to promote peace, stability, and prosperity across the Indo-Pacific. These nations share common maritime security challenges, including securing vital sea lines of communication, addressing non-traditional security threats, and safeguarding shared marine environments. Occupying strategic but distinct positions at the nexus of the Indian Ocean, these three leaders are well-placed to pilot efforts to further maritime cooperation and build regional capacity.
This Dialogue will explore key areas of collaboration between Australia, India, and Indonesia, focusing on strengthening maritime domain awareness (MDA) and addressing shared security concerns, especially in the northeast Indian Ocean. The discussion will cover potential joint initiatives such as joint sails, hydrography, technical interoperability, and combined maritime surveillance to enhance information-sharing and operational coordination. The importance of coordinated responses to maritime threats, seabed infrastructure protection, and climate change mitigation will also be explored, given the growing challenges these issues present to regional security.
Expert speakers from the three nations will contribute insights and drive discussions leading to new ideas. The outcomes of this 1.5 track dialogue will be shared with key policymakers and inform future senior officials’ meetings. This Dialogue will feed directly into the existing trilateral architecture, offering actionable insights to inform ongoing policy initiatives as well as facilitating future official trilateral configurations.
This Dialogue is hosted by the Australia India Institute and supported by the Australian Government Department of Defence.
Objectives
- Strengthen maritime domain awareness (MDA) through enhanced information-sharing and joint surveillance efforts.
- Promote operational coordination via joint sails, technical interoperability, and capacity-building initiatives.
- Develop collaborative strategies to address non-traditional security threats, including illegal fishing, piracy, and transnational crime.
- Enhance cooperation on the protection of critical seabed infrastructure and undersea communication cables.
- Advance regional efforts in climate change mitigation and marine environmental protection.
- Provide actionable recommendations to policymakers, feeding into the existing trilateral architecture and senior officials’ meetings.
Key Areas of Trilateral Interest
- Maritime Security & Surveillance: Strengthening real-time intelligence-sharing, coordinated patrols, and joint response mechanisms.
- Operational & Technical Interoperability: Expanding joint training exercises, technology exchanges, and defence cooperation.
- Seabed Infrastructure Protection: Safeguarding undersea cables and energy networks critical to regional stability.
- Climate Change & Environmental Resilience: Addressing coastal erosion, rising sea levels, and marine biodiversity conservation.
- Regional Maritime Governance: Reinforcing shared commitments to international maritime law and Indo-Pacific security frameworks.
