The 23rd Council of Ministers (COM) & Committee of Senior Officials of IORA

The 23rd Council of Ministers (COM) Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) will be held in Colombo on 11 October 2023, under the theme “Strengthening Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity. The Meeting will be hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka, the incoming IORA Chair.

The Ministers' meeting will be preceded by the 24th Committee of Senior Official (CSO) Meeting on 9-10 October. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Senior Government Officials of IORA’s 23 Member States will be convened to take stock of the progress that the Association has made, since the last meeting in Bangladesh, and to discuss the future initiatives of this region. The IORA’s 11 Dialogue Partners, Specialized Agencies and Observers will also join in the meetings.

This October's Meeting will mark the handing over of IORA Chairship from the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the current Chair, who took over the Chairship in 2021, to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will serve as Chair for a period of two years (2023-2025), while India will become the Vice-Chair of the Association. Bangladesh will remain part of the IORA Troika for the period, which will be constituted as follows: Sri Lanka (Chair), India (Vice-Chair) and Bangladesh (Past-Chair). The IORA Council of Ministers Meeting (COM) is an annual meeting whereby Foreign Ministers from IORA Member States meet to discuss and decide over IORA priorities.

In consonance, the CSO, consisting of senior officials of Foreign Affairs meet twice per year, and decisions taken by the Committee are then reported to the COM for final adoption. It is to be noted that the COM and CSO are the primary bodies of IORA. For more information, on these important meetings for the Indian Ocean Region, we invite you to email us on