Today we celebrate the twenty-sixth anniversary of IORA. IORA was established through the vision of former South African President Nelson Mandela, when 14 member states founded the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) in March 1997. Currently, the membership of IORA is sitting at twenty member states, including Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates.
Today the Member States have become 23 and they have been joined by 10 Dialogue Partners including Italy, which since 2019 has often collaborated with the intergovernmental organization of the IORA on several fronts, trying to carry on a partnership in the name of international cooperation which it has always involved our country, especially in the Indo Pacific area.
The great human potential that surrounds one of the largest bodies of water on the planet and the innumerable resources that derive from it, are an opportunity for international cooperation, so as we join the celebrations for another year gone by and say: CONGRATULATIONS IORA!