NEW DELHI: Addressing the Manama Dialogues in Bahrain, External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar said that the absence of a relationship between Israel and Iran has been a particular source of concern. He also pointed that some of India’s diplomatic efforts have focused on that particular aspect and the situation in the Red Sea as well. He added that certain trend lines are coming out of this region.“We have been a supporter of the Abraham Accords and some years ago, we started a grouping called I2U2, which involves India, Israel, the US and the UAE. It is still at a relatively early stage and we certainly hope that in the coming days that it’s a group that will grow,” he added.Dr Jaishankar also spoke about regional cooperation in the security domain. “We have had very significant security challenges in this area with a very deep and disastrous impact for trade in Asia. So when we look at the diversion of maritime routes and the insurance costs, and the shipping costs and the container costs and the delay that it has imposed, obviously, you know, India, but not just India, we have an interest in trying to mitigate that situation,” he said.India has had a naval presence in this region in the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, Northern Arabian Sea. Over the year its been roughly about 30 ships, the peak was about 12 ships at one point of time which were deployed there. “In the last year we have actually responded to 24 actual incidents, escorted 250 ships, rescued 120 crew members. So we are making our contributions, we working in tandem with Operation Prosperity Guardian,” he said. India has its own nationally named operation and is also a member of the combined maritime force which is centered in Bahrain.“This involves CTF150 working with EUNAVFOR and in many cases we have seen and we intend to increase our bilateral exercise both in the Gulf with our partners as well as in the Mediterranean,” Dr Jaishankar said.The Gulf countries have been fairly regular partners of India by now and in almost every case India has seen an uptick in our shared activities. In the Mediterranean, particularly, apart from Israel, with Greece, with Egypt, India has had significant exercises this year.
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