NIICE Director Sumitra Karki highlights Nepal’s Maritime Stakes at 9th Indian Ocean Conference 2026 in Mauritius on 10-12 April, 2026
Speaking at Thematic Session-2: Maritime Laws and Governance, Ms. Karki underscored Nepal’s unique position as a landlocked yet ocean-reliant country. She emphasized that Nepal maintains an open, porous, and largely unregulated border with India, allowing Nepalese citizens to travel without visas or passports. This ease of movement enables Nepal to access the Indian Ocean through Indian territory, leading her to describe Nepal as a “virtual maritime country.”
Highlighting the strategic and economic importance of the Indian Ocean for Nepal, Ms. Karki noted that the country relies heavily on sea routes for international trade. A significant portion of Nepal’s imports and exports transits through Indian ports, particularly Kolkata Port and Visakhapatnam Port. She stressed that ensuring stability and cooperation in the Indian Ocean region is therefore vital for Nepal’s economic security.
Ms. Karki further reiterated Nepal’s foreign policy stance of maintaining strategic autonomy, stating that Nepal does not seek to be drawn into geopolitical rivalries and instead prioritizes economic cooperation over military or strategic alignments.
During her remarks, Ms. Karki also highlighted NIICE’s growing engagement in Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific affairs. She noted that NIICE is the only think tank in Nepal with a dedicated focus on Indian Ocean issues through its Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs. Over the years, NIICE has hosted more than 50 discussions on Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific dynamics and has contributed to policy discourse through its publication, Nepal’s Outlook to the Indo-Pacific, released five years ago.
She also drew attention to NIICE’s flagship event, the “Indo-Pacific Future Forum,” which has emerged as a key platform for dialogue. The most recent edition, themed “Connecting Saagar to Sagar,” symbolically linked the Indo-Pacific region (“Saagar”) with Sagarmatha (“Sagar”).
On the sidelines, Director Karki met with H.E. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, H.E. Shishir Khanal, Foreign Minister of Nepal, H.E. Indra Mani Pande, Secretary General, BIMSTEC, and Shri Periasamy Kumaran, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, India. Ram Madhav, former National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party and current President of the India Foundation, Pankaj Saran, Convenor of NatStrat, Amb. Anil Trinugayat, Distinguished Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation & also Visiting Fellow at NIICE, Maj. Gen. Dhruv C. Katoch (Retd.), Director, India Foundation & Air Vice Marshal Anil Golani (Retd), Director General, Centre for Aerospace Power and Strategic Studies (CAPSS) and other dignitaries.
