India and Liberia Launch Joint Effort to Protect Seafarers at G20 Summit
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has announced a joint India-Liberia initiative to safeguard seafarers, speaking at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta on Friday, 30 October. He also called for an end to repeated attacks on merchant ships and crews in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Jaishankar said attacks on civilian shipping must stop in line with international law, especially the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and stressed freedom of navigation. He noted that countries of the Global South carry a heavy share of the burden, because such attacks threaten the supply and price of fuel, food and fertiliser.
Details of how the India-Liberia initiative will work have not yet been released. The partnership is significant because India is one of the world’s largest suppliers of seafarers, while Liberia runs one of the biggest ship registries in the world.
The call comes after two tankers with Indian crew were hit in the Strait of Hormuz this week: the Louise 1, with 27 Indians on board, and the Liberia-flagged VLCC Arzanah, with two Indians. Ports and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said all 29 Indian seafarers on the two ships are safe and unhurt.
The initiative shows India raising seafarer safety at the highest diplomatic level. If it leads to joint measures between a major crew-supplying nation and a major flag state, Indian seafarers on Liberian ships could benefit from better protection and support in high-risk waters.
