NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh virtually participated in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), which was organised by the French Navy at R union Island from Monday to Thursday, officials said.

The biennial event was conceived by the Indian Navy in 2008 to enhance maritime cooperation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region (IOR).

The symposium provides an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues that would lead to common understanding on the way ahead, the Indian Navy officials said.

During the symposium, presentations were made by experts from the French Institute of International Relations, the Indian Ocean Commission, the Information Fusion Centre of Singapore, the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre of Madagascar and the European Union-led Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO), they said.

The symposium held panel discussions themed on the IONS' three working groups – humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security and information sharing and inter-operability, the officials said.

IONS' Conclave of Chiefs (CoC) is the decision-making body at the level of Chiefs of Navies, which meets biennially, they said.

The sixth IONS as well as CoC was conducted by the Iranian Navy in April 2018 at Tehran.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CoC 2021 will be hosted by the French Navy later this year, the officials mentioned.