WNAM MONITORING: During the AMAN Dialogue in Karachi, Pakistan, the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) urged its counterparts in 60 countries to develop strategies to prevent conflicts at sea, especially in the Indian Ocean—the main topic of the forum.
At the dialogue on Monday, commander of the Naval Combat Group of the Indonesian Navy’s First Fleet Command, Commodore Mohammad Taufik, said he believes that stability, conflict resolution, and maritime security must be the priority of all navies.
“The future security strategy must focus on prevention rather than retaliation with various considerations,” he added.
He then outlined several steps to realize this, including strengthening interoperability through agreement on the same standards in training, increasing joint missions or operations, and establishing the same communication protocols between navies.
Second, Taufik emphasized the need for each navy to strengthen maritime defense diplomacy involving actors outside the military, namely academics, policy makers, and industry.
Third, navies from countries in the region need to step up cooperation in disaster mitigation and humanitarian assistance, considering that disasters caused by climate change require a quick and more coordinated response between navies.
Therefore, Taufik said he believes that multilateral dialogue forums such as the AMAN Dialogue are crucial since they engage authorities from various backgrounds in discussions on emerging threats, finding the right policy framework, and the use of technology in maritime security.
In addition, cross-sector collaboration can be considered by navies to formulate an effective response to anticipate threats, both traditional ones, such as terror, piracy, and smuggling, as well as non-traditional ones such as the impact of climate change at sea or cyberwarfare.
Lastly, he invited the naval delegations of participating countries to follow up on the results of the discussion by forging concrete cooperation and collaboration.
“The success of the AMAN Dialogue does not end with just discussions. The results of this dialogue must lead to concrete actions to strengthen maritime security and stability,” he emphasized.
The AMAN Dialogue was held for the first time by the Pakistan Navy on February 9–10, 2025, as part of the 2025 AMAN Exercise.
