As the largest archipelagic country in the world, Indonesia's existence not only reflects its physical characteristics, but also forms the basis of its grand strategy in conducting maritime diplomacy. Its unique geographical position, surrounded by two continents and two oceans, presents urgent challenges in optimizing the potential of marine resources. Recognition of the strategic value of the Indian Ocean as a global trade route and rich natural resources provides a strong impetus for Indonesia to play its role. The active role it has to play at regional level is clearly visible in its active involvement in IORA.
Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is the pioneer and only regional organization in the Indian Ocean region. The Indian Ocean is a strategic water area, especially for the world economy. The Indian Ocean acts as a connecting link for international trade routes from Asia to Europe and vice versa. President Joko Widodo and vice president Jusuf Kalla initiated one of the missions in the Nawa Cita program, namely building the personality of the Indonesian nation as an archipelagic country and this mission was followed by the emergence of the maritime axis concept (PMD). The World Maritime Axis is an Indonesian maritime strategy where the strategy aims to maximize Indonesia's maritime potential. This maritime axis concept gave birth to the five pillars that guide the Indonesian people to realize the ideals of PMD. One of the five pillars is maritime diplomacy which Indonesia uses to create a world maritime axis and to strengthen bilateral relations with other countries, this can be used to fight for national interests, especially in strategic issues in the maritime sector.
Indonesia as a maritime country in maintaining its maritime sovereignty and security continues to increase the capabilities and strength of its naval fleet. Indonesia has made various efforts to maintain its maritime security, such as increasing cooperation with other countries, increasing maritime monitoring, increasing military capabilities at sea and so on. In 1997, Indonesia and several countries in the Indian Ocean Coastal Circle initiated the establishment of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), as an association that bridges cooperation between countries in the Indian Ocean Rim region.
Geographically, Indonesia borders directly on two oceans, namely the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The strategic values of the Indian Ocean, especially for the world economy as a trade link from Asia to Europe-Africa and vice versa, are in line with the World Maritime Axis concept promoted by President Joko Widodo since his election in 2014. Indonesia, as the largest archipelagic country in the world, has potential to become the World Maritime Axis, which is an Indonesian maritime strategy to maximize all of Indonesia's maritime potential. Strategic steps are needed to position Indonesia as an advanced, strong and sovereign World Maritime Axis. The World Maritime Axis has 5 main pillars, namely:
1. Rebuilding Indonesia's maritime culture
2. Placing fishermen as the main pillar to protect marine resources and create seafood sovereignty
3. Prioritize infrastructure development and maritime connectivity by building sea highways, shipping industry and maritime tourism
4. Implementing maritime diplomacy, to increase cooperation in the maritime sector and efforts to handle conflicts, such as territorial disputes, fishing theft, marine pollution, and violations of sovereignty by emphasizing that the sea must unite various nations and countries
5. Building maritime strength as a form of responsibility in maintaining shipping safety and maritime security
Indonesia's joining IORA can be a medium for Indonesia to realize the World Maritime Axis. Indonesia has three domains of interest in IORA, namely politics and security, economics and socio-cultural. In the political and security realm, Indonesia has an important role in maintaining maritime security in the Asian region. Apart from that, Indonesia must pay more attention to efforts to secure its maritime territory from attacks originating from outside. Apart from that, IORA has a priority to realize maritime safety and security, which can support a maritime environment that is free from the threat of terrorism and piracy. This can provide benefits for the Indonesian maritime region. This is because, if the maritime environment around Indonesia is unsafe, the stability of the maritime region and trade passing through Indonesian territory will be disrupted
In the economic sector, Indonesia has an interest in IORA to increase the value of Indonesian exports, the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia, and the value of foreign investment in Indonesia. Apart from that, Indonesia also has interests in several other sectors, one of which is energy and mineral resources. Mineral resources in the Indian Ocean are quite abundant, such as gold, diamonds, oil and various other substances. With this extraordinary wealth of natural resources, Indonesia can utilize existing natural resources more effectively to increase the country's energy security.