Indian Ocean conference to focus on AUKUS and the Quad

In July next year, the Indian Ocean Defence & Security 2024 (IODS 2024) conference and exhibition will unpack the real-world issues and impacts of AUKUS and the Quad.

The Indian Ocean Defence & Security conference and exhibition has evolved to become a leading specialist forum on the subject.

In July next year, Perth will become the epicentre of debate on how the international relationships driving Australia’s $368bn nuclear-powered submarine purchase may play out in regional diplomacy, co-operation and industry development.

For three days, from July 24-26, the Indian Ocean Defence & Security 2024 (IODS 2024) conference and exhibition will unpack the real-world issues and impacts of the tripartite Australia, UK and US AUKUS agreement and the four-nation “Quad” dialogue between Australia, the US, Japan and India.

As Australia’s gateway to the Indian Ocean region, Western Australia has long acted as the catalyst for engagement on regional issues. After beginning as the Perth USAsia Centre WA Indo-Pacific Defence Conference in 2018, the IODS conference has evolved to become a leading international forum for exploring the challenges and opportunities of Australia’s strategic stance on the Indian Ocean and its partner nations.

Previous events have explored the sovereignty of supply chains, protection of natural resources and the role of WA and its defence industry.

The event’s 2024 theme, Where AUKUS Meets the Quad, will explore two of Australia’s premier international diplomatic partnerships, and the challenges and opportunities they present for international engagement and the role of industry in supporting diplomacy, defence and security policy in the region.

The conference program and speaker list is yet to be finalised but is expected to include major strategic civil and defence leaders and experts from Australia and AUKUS and Quad nations, plus a contingent of specialists who will detail how industry can support diplomatic and commercial goals.

WA’s Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation and Defence West have partnered with Indo Pacific 2023 organiser AMDA Foundation Limited to deliver the event.

AUKUS is best known for the paradigm-changing Pillar 1 program, which will equip the Royal Australian Navy with nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines. This will be the largest single defence acquisition in Australian history, delivering a platform acknowledged as the most complex moving vehicle on the planet.

But if the program delivers as promised, the AUKUS Advanced Capabilities Pillar 2 will also offer opportunities for a broad range of Australian specialist industries, in fields from undersea capabilities to hypersonics, electronic warfare and artificial intelligence.

Likewise the Quad – which was born out of international co-operation in response to the 2004 Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami – is focused on delivering outcomes for the Indo-Pacific across health security, climate change, technologies, disaster relief and counter-terrorism.

While Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade public information emphasises that the Quad is about diplomacy rather than security, statements of intent from the latest Quad heads meeting in May this year also reiterated that “all countries have a role in contributing to regional peace, stability and prosperity, as well as upholding international law, including the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the rules-based international order”. The Indian Ocean Defence & Security conference and exhibition will illustrate what that will mean for Australian diplomacy, defence and security policy, and the industry that supports it.

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For more on IODS 2024, visit www.iods.com.au