ECSSR: The Challenges of Piracy in Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea

The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) launched a symposium on the 4th of June 2013, under the title The Challenges of Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. It was organized in collaboration with the Yemen International Affairs Center (YIAC).

The symposium has been attended by a number of diplomats, strategic experts, specialists in International Maritime and International Law and counter terrorism.

In his welcoming remarks, His Excellency Dr. Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi, Director General of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, assured that crimes of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea have reached unprecedented levels during the last ten years. This increase has made the phenomenon of piracy a real strategic threat to international trade, and a real danger threatening the shipping lanes in this vital region. This criminal activity has become more dangerous because it is linked to groups belonging to global terrorism. Undoubtedly, the volume of world trade passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea makes this region a vital economic conduit and an indispensable international shipping lane. It is the duty of the whole world to guarantee the security of such a vital lane.

Dr. Al-Suwaidi assured in the speech delivered on his behalf at the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan Hall of the ECSSR premises in Abu Dhabi, that the UAE is genuinely interested in fighting the crimes of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Ahmed Salem Al-Wahishi, Director of the Yemeni International Affairs Center (YIAC), gave a speech on this occasion, in which he stressed the importance of research on the challenges of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

He highlighted the issue of the three occupied UAE islands, the Lesser and Greater Tunbs and Abu Musa, which represent a deep concern for regional security, especially in light of continuing Iranian threats and the suspicion surrounding the controversial Iranian nuclear program.

H.E. Ambassador James A. Larocco, Director of Near East and South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) in the United States, delivered a paper titled “The Background and Scale of Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea”, in which he stated that, “The security in the Arabian Sea is vital since 72% of oil supplies flow through it from the Gulf and the Middle East. There are many opportunities for anti-terrorism and anti-piracy operations in the region. Cooperation at sea will remain vital for all.”

Participants in the symposium also discussed a paper delivered by Dr. Martin Murphy, senior fellow at Atlantic Council of the United States, titled, “Global Initiative Options for the International Navigation Security in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea,” in which he stressed that the threat posed by piracy to the Arabian Sea region has been met by an increasingly effective international response in recent years. The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia was established in 2009, and ships of many nations have contributed to the antipiracy mission—28 states have so far deployed ships on anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia.

ECSSR, June 6, 2013