India and the United States are planning a greater strategic cooperation in the Indian Ocean to build crucial infrastructure, including ports and telecommunications networks, in regional nations namely Sri Lanka, Maldives and Mauritius.
The partnership is expected to take place under the Indian Ocean Strategic Venture (IOSV initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump during their bilateral summit in February 2025.
“India is great at building ports. We have the money to help build those ports. How can we get in there and pool our resources in these key countries and advance that? So we’re looking at ports. We’re looking at maritime security, and then digital infrastructure. We’re looking at 6G. What is the next generation of standards going to look like, and how can the U.S. and India be the leaders and partner in that? So those are really the key themes,” said a senior State Department official.
Working together to boost maritime security and governance will also be a key focus for the two countries which could include countering illegal fishing, human trafficking and the illicit narcotics trade in the region.
{{/usCountry}}Working together to boost maritime security and governance will also be a key focus for the two countries which could include countering illegal fishing, human trafficking and the illicit narcotics trade in the region.
{{/usCountry}}The senior State Department official indicated that tracking the activities of foreign ships purporting to be research vessels could also be a focus. This is significant given India’s long standing security concerns about the activities of Chinese hydrographical research vessels in the Indian Oceans.
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Providing regional countries economic alternatives to China’s state-backed enterprises when it comes to strategic projects will also be a key ambition for IOSV.
“We want to provide alternatives, and we can’t always compete because sometimes the costs don’t make sense. Our private sector cannot offer the same prices that a government-backed company can offer, and so that’s when we say, how can the US and India work together on this?” the official said.
The work undertaken by the two countries under IOSV will include improving the capabilities of the regional governments.
“These are things that are natural fits for both of us that make our country secure and India more secure. So we’re working on that with countries to understand their territorial waters, what’s happening in them and giving them the tools and the resources to do that, especially countries like Sri Lanka. We recently donated a fourth US Coast Guard cutter to Sri Lanka and they’re using it,” the official adds.
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Bilateral discussions between the two nations have intensified in recent months.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Under Secretary of State Allison Hoover discussed the possibilities for IOSV during a phone call earlier last month. Both sides also held talks on IOSV during meetings in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) high level week last month.
Talk between India-US have picked up ahead of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s expected visit to India later in October.