India has emphasised deeper economic ties in the Indian Ocean region including maritime security . It today pitched for more robust cooperative regionalism and said the geo-strategic importance of the area cannot be underestimated. In his address at the Ministerial Meeting of the 20-nation Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) at Gurgaon, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, as focus of global economic growth shifts to Asia, it will occupy even greater salience in India's strategic perspective. On the concluding day of the five-day conference, he said, IOR-ARC is a regional body that can respond effectively to this need and enhance our individual and collective capacities to deal with contemporary challenges facing common maritime domain.Mr.Khurshid stressed that IOR-ARC should be strengthened to

enable it to rise to expectations of the region. He pointed out that the region is characterised by great diversities in size, population and levels of development.

The grouping was set up in 1997 with the primary objective of promoting sustained growth and balanced development of the region and of its member states.