New Delhi, February 14:

India called for an alliance of navies to boost security at sea at its first naval summit today with nations that have a stake in the busy maritime lanes of the Indian Ocean.

Twenty-six representatives of navies from countries including Australia, Egypt, France and

Sri Lanka are attending the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), seen by experts as an

effort by New Delhi to assert its strategic presence.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, launching the two-day event, said regional cooperation would help combat piracy and terrorism.

“Recent years have seen a rise in crimes such as terrorism, smuggling, including of narcotics, arms and weapons, and piracy and robbery,” Singh said.

“The perpetrators of these crimes are well-organised and well-funded transnational crime syndicates who take full advantage of the vastness of the oceans. The need for cooperation among the navies of the region in preventing such crimes is therefore of paramount interest,” he said.

“India remains committed to an Indian Ocean that is stable and peaceful,” the prime minister said, calling for “the freedom of the seas for all nations... to deepen trade and economic links.”

Indian naval chief admiral Sureesh Mehta called for a loose military alliance of regional navies to keep the busy sea lanes secure.

“The threats of intra-state turmoil as well as a variety of security threats that are short of state-on-state conflict, remain a grim reality, presenting a significant risk to peace and stability,” Mehta told the summit.

India has offered an unofficial naval blockade of the waters around Sri Lanka and the

Maldives to prevent Tamil guerrillas from smuggling arms onto the island to fuel their battle for a homeland.

“The threat from malevolent non-state actors presents a clear and present danger to not just one or some, but to all of us,” Mehta said, without directly referring to the Sri Lankan conflict.

“(However) it is critical to ensure that whatever we plan and do flows from a broad consensus, with political backing, maritime commitment, and naval resolve,” the chief of India’s 137-ship navy added.

India during the 2004 tsunami spurned an unsolicited US offer to provide help to the thousands of victims and instead sent its own naval ships to Sri Lanka and Indonesia in a sign of its expanding reach.

Last September, India invited Australia, Japan, Singapore and the US for major joint naval exercises off the Andaman islands — raising eyebrows in Pakistan and China.