SAGARMANTHAN – THE GREAT OCEANS DIALOGUE
Sagarmanthan: The Great Oceans Dialogue, organized with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), will be a flagship event during India Maritime Week 2025, featuring 50 sessions and drawing over 1,800 participants. The dialogue will address key issues in ocean governance, maritime security, blue economy, climate resilience, and regional cooperation. With 106 international delegates already confirmed and domestic outreach underway, the event will bring together policymakers, diplomats, industry leaders, and academic experts for high-level discussions. Proposed panels have been shared with MoPSW, and VIP speakers will be finalized shortly. Sagarmanthan will serve as a premier platform for shaping global maritime discourse and advancing collaborative solutions for a sustainable ocean future.
2025 | Themes
- 1. Rethinking Connectivity: New Materials, New Markets, and New Politics
- 2. Liberal Fleets: Coalition of the Ocean
- 3. Blue Cities Paradigm: Finance, Services, and Human Talent
- 4. Levelling the Blue Pyramid: Valuing Coastal Communities
- 5. Tech Frontiers: Planet, Performance, and Profits
Pillar I | Rethinking Connectivity: New Materials, New Markets, and New Politics
A global realignment is underway, as trade and connectivity are being reimagined across continents. New centres of growth are opening up, especially in the Indo-Pacific; and fresh connections must be built between markets new and old. Technological change and the green transition mean new materials and minerals have acquired salience, and the infrastructure for their extraction, processing, and transport is being conceptualised. Yet these new hubs, spokes and corridors must be designed and built in a world defined by contestation as much as by cooperation – not just over access to resources, but over the very nature of global interaction, cooperation, and competition. Maritime connectivity and resilient supply chains are at the centre of this transformation. They are crucial for economic growth and are the product of emerging geometries of global cooperation. This evolving maritime landscape reveals the complex interconnections between natural resources, commercial interests, and geopolitical shifts.
Proposed Sessions
- 1. Navigating Uncertainty: Collaborating for Maritime Resilience
- 2. Redrawing the Map: New Routes for Critical Minerals
- 3. Connecting New Growth Engines: Shaping Africa-Asia-Middle East Linkages
- 4. Green Corridors, Blue Futures: Ensuring Equity in Maritime Decarbonisation
- 5. Growth Powerhouses: Investing in India’s Port Renaissance
- 6. Sailing Sustainably: Collaborative Pathways to Maritime Decarbonisation
- 7. Whose Cable is it Anyway: Securing the World's Undersea Lifelines
- 8. The Geometry of Integration: Mapping the IMEC Moment
- 9. The Maritime-Energy Nexus: Navigating Security and Supply
- 10. Sea Change: Navigating Maritime Trade in a Warming World
Pillar II | Liberal Fleets: Coalition of the Ocean
The global shipbuilding industry is highly concentrated. In 2024, half of global ship production and new orders were committed to one country, China. Once-dominant fleets are now in decline; by 2045, three-fourths of the current European fleet will be recycled. A parallel trend is visible in the ship recycling sector, where Chinese dominance continues to grow, driven by state-backed support for modern, high-capacity recycling facilities. Can liberal trade survive without liberal fleets? To safeguard and advance the rules-based maritime order and address strategic vulnerabilities, new hubs must be found for global shipbuilding. India is investing substantially in ship design, production, repair, and recycling. Collaborating with like-minded partners is essential to promote a more equitable distribution of shipbuilding capabilities across nations and mitigate risks associated with supply chain disruptions.
Proposed Sessions
- 1. Spreading the Anchor: Reducing Concentration in Shipbuilding and Shipping Supply Chains
- 2. Crafting India’s Maritime Backbone: Indigenous Ships for a Self-Reliant Economy
- 3. From Rust to Resource: Shipbreaking as a Development Engine
- 4. Ghost Fleets: The Shadow Shipping Industry
- 5. he New Quintet: A US-India-Europe-Korea-Japan Shipbuilding Partnership
- 6. Rule Makers, Not Takers: Ending Maritime Inequity
- 7. ‘Ports of the Future’: A Quad Partnership for Resilient and Sustainable Ports
Pillar 3 | Blue Cities Paradigm: Finance, Services, and Human Talent
The harbours of the past will be the hubs of the future. Maritime cities are being transformed from trade and logistics points into centres of technology, virtual trade, and digital connectivity. Multimodal transport and digital trade facilitation are rendering them more efficient and creating new jobs in trade services sectors. The Global South, with its vast coastlines and growing cities, is set to lead this transformation. But creating a network of maritime cities will require collaboration, innovation, and investments supported by progressive policies and shipping advancements to boost competitiveness. The human capital that will support the services sectors of the future has to be identified and developed. Maritime cities must become the source of growth and dynamism for their hinterland.
Proposed Sessions
- 1. Next Port of Call: Can India be the Next Logistics Giant?
- 2. Off-coast Infrastructure: The New Industrial Policy Frontier
- 3. Road to Value Chains: Reimagining India’s Coastal Special Economic Zones
- 4. New Maritime Cities for a New Global Economy: Building Networks Across Asia, the Mediterranean, and Africa
- 5. Closing the Credit Gap: Reforming Trade and Insurance Finance for Inclusive Growth
- 6. Seafarers First: Addressing Inequities in the Maritime Workforce
- 7. Oceans to Doorsteps: The Next Frontier in Retail Supply Chains
- 8. The Inland Advantage: De-risking Supply Chains Through Waterways
- 9. Ports and People: Harbours as Engines of Urban Inclusion
Pillar 4 | Levelling the Blue Pyramid: Valuing Coastal Communities
A sustainable blue economy must place the welfare of coastal communities at its heart. Engaging and empowering coastal citizens at every step of the development process is fundamental for its political sustainability and economic resilience. Looking to the past is equally important for shaping the future. Traditional maritime practices and cultural knowledge offer powerful lessons for building adaptive, community-driven solutions. Community-led initiatives in coral restoration and fisheries management are central to conserving marine biodiversity. As the blue economy grows, we must also invest in local leadership and connect coastal communities to each other. Global partnerships – such as those focused on developing maritime museums – can also help preserve maritime heritage, foster community pride, and promote sustainable practices through local stewardship.
Proposed Sessions
- 1. Coastal Resilience: Local Knowledge Meets Climate Adaptation
- 2. Blue Skills, Blue Jobs: Capacity Building along the Coastline
- 3. Coastal Memory and Maritime Museums: Sustaining Communities Through Culture
- 4. Tourism at the Tides: Building Sustainable Coastal Economies
- 5. Less Fish in the Sea: Re-routing the World’s Fisheries
- 6. Pearls in the Ocean: SIDS and Emerging Maritime Economies from the Global South
- 7. Agents of Change: Social Enterprises and the Future of Our Oceans
Pillar 5 | Tech Frontiers: Planet, Performance, and Profits
To foster a vibrant blue planet, coastal cities must evolve into innovation hubs. As shipping flows expand, so too will investments in technology, startups, and solutions that support this growth. New corridors and trade routes will flourish only if coastal cities modernise their infrastructure and streamline supply-chain processes. This requires the integration of smart ports, automated shipping systems, blockchain technology and real-time data analytics. Green technologies and infrastructure investments are imperative to reducing the industry's carbon footprint. By prioritising innovation and strategic investment in the blue economy, the shipping sector can not only lead the transition to sustainable global trade but also enhance its resilience to future challenges.
Proposed Sessions
- 1. Captains without Paperwork: Shipping and Ports in the Age of AI
- 2. Ships of the Future: Smart and Autonomous Vessels
- 3. From Docks to Data: The Smart Port Revolution
- 4. Crew of the Future: Preparing Seafarers for Automation and AI
- 5. Breaking the Decarbonisation Dilemma: The Case for Nuclear Shipping
- 6. Beyond Cargo: Reimagining Harbours as Innovation Hubs
- 7. The New Wave: Green-Blue Startups for Oceans and Economies
