The maiden short course at the Regional Maritime Security Centre of Excellence (RMSCE) under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) concluded on November 5 at the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) in New Delhi, with participants drawn from 10 partner countries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday.

Source: IANS

The participants came from Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand, the MEA said in a post on X, quoted by IANS.

What the course covered

According to the MEA, participants engaged in discussions on Maritime Domain Awareness, Ocean Governance, PIML (Provision of Information on Maritime Logistics) and Combined Operations. The group also visited the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) and was briefed on its operational capabilities and its role in sharing information on incidents at sea.

A joint India-UK centre

The RMSCE has been jointly instituted by India and the United Kingdom under the Maritime Security pillar of the IPOI, for regional capacity building and to advance cooperation in maritime security, the MEA said. In June 2026, the Memorandum of Understanding between King's College London and the National Maritime Foundation to establish the centre was exchanged during the visit of UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to India, Nation Press reported, adding that the initiative was formally acknowledged at the 25th India-UK Defence Consultative Group meeting in New Delhi in August 2026.

The conclusion of the first course marks the centre's operational debut as a training hub for Indo-Pacific partners, at a time when India is expanding maritime information-sharing and capacity-building partnerships across the Indian Ocean Region.

Sources: Ministry of External Affairs (official statement on X), reported by IANS and Nation Press.