The Indian Ocean Commission is an international organisation that brings together African countries in the Indian Ocean.
Headquarter: Port Louis, Mauritius.
Membership: Comoro Islands, Reunion Islands (France), Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
India joined as an observer in 2020.
Establishment
The Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) was established in July 1982 after an agreement between the leaders of Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles. In January 1984, a general agreement called Victoria Agreement on regional cooperation was signed and Indian Ocean Commission was formally institutionalised.
France and the Comoro Islands became full members of the Commission in January 1986.
Objective
The IOC's mission is to "organise and promote regional cooperation among Indian Ocean island countries in all sectors, with a special emphasis on economic growth."
Structure
The International Olympic Committee is composed of ministerial meetings and a Secretariat. Ministerial sessions control the IOC's activities and serve as the policy-making body. These workshops take place on an annual basis.
Each year, the Commission's presidency is rotated among its members. The Secretariat is responsible for programme implementation and is led by the Secretary-General, who is elected by ministerial sessions for a four-year term.
Activities
Initially, the Commission placed a premium on the development of innovative and renewable energy systems, tourism marketing, environmental conservation, tuna fishing development, and information exchange regarding cyclones. Numerous programmes have been implemented with the assistance of the EU and the UNDP.
A strategy was envisioned for regional trade to be free of tariff and non-tariff barriers.
The IOC has recently begun debating problems like political liberalisation in the region, regional industrial ventures, and membership expansion. South Africa's membership was a prominent point of discussion at the 1991 Antananarivo Summit.
In 1992, the IOC supported a plan for integration, which included a review of the organization's structure. The EU allocated $12 million in June 1995 for a new IOC trade development project aimed at boosting private sector activity in the region by increasing the "reliability and availability" of commercial information.