Nelson Delicieux Mihajaritiana explains how RCOC uses IORIS to address maritime challenges

Nelson Delicieux Mihajaritiana, International Liaison Officer for Madagascar. IORIS is a communication tool for interagency cooperation. In our everyday task at the RCOC (Regional Coordination Operations Centre) we use IORIS to coordinate operations. We’ve multiple agencies not only from one country, but from many other countries. By sending a single message on IORIS, the RCOC is able to reach all the agencies participating in operation. What’s the biggest threat to maritime security in your region that can be addressed through cooperation? From our experience at the RCOC there is a hotspot of threats in our region (Indian Ocena Region). For some areas it can be Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, in another area it can be illegal migration, in another you may see all types of illegal trafficking, such as drugs or species trafficking. Personally, I think the major threat in our region is drug trafficking. You can fight it at the point of origin, or at the points of arrival, or also in the middle, but whatever strategy you will choose, you need the cooperation of everyone to be successful. What’s essential for maintaining strong regional partnerships? I believe that for maintaining a stronger regional partnership it is essential to have trust between the representatives of each state. For example, the regional maritime security architecture, of which the RCOC is parts, was created on the trust between the representatives of the States and the organisation. Now there are more states expressing the interest to join the framework. This is because they see that they can trust the organisation. I think to have a strong regional partnership it is essential to have trust between the representative of the states.