The March 2025 NESA Center Update focuses on regional maritime trends.

The update also highlights September through December 2024 programs and events, faculty and staff engagements, alumni contributions, and a calendar.

Regional Maritime Trends

• Following the Quad Leaders’ Summit on 21 September 2024, the Wilmington Declaration was issued which featured prominently the ways in which the Quad will cooperate on regional maritime security issues. This includes further enhancing data available through the International Port Management and Data Association (IPMDA) (announced in 2022) and the initiation of the Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), which will begin with an event in India next year. 2025 will also put the impetus on Quad efforts upon India, which shall be the focal point of various efforts and be the host of future senior leader summits. India’s Indian Ocean Region International Fusion Centre (IFC-IOR), its homegrown fusion center, will also be featured in future efforts tied to the Quad, signalling the Quad’s increased focus on the Indian Ocean Region.
• Partnership throughout the Indo-Pacific around maritime “thematic coalitions” is gaining ground. Following the trend of more “minilateral” efforts, these thematic coalitions are ad hoc in nature, have very specific areas of focus, and can be state-led or state-facilitated. Many of these coalitions take on issues tied to larger geostrategic tensions, but are primarily driven by the immediate concerns of smaller regional states regarding nontraditional threats. Issues such as Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUU-F), transnational smuggling/trafficking, Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR), and climate change mitigation are commonly focal points. These coalitions, particularly in the maritime domain, are serving as a way for smaller states and private sector stakeholders to alter, reform, or even drive the engagements of larger regional actors.

Read the full NESA Center Update report [PDF].

Read other NESA Center reports.

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