UN General Assembly
1972

176. The Georgetown Conference also noted that "the Mediterranean is increasingly becoming an area for the display of rival military forces" and "welcomed the initiative taken towards convening a conference of non- aligned Mediterranean countries and those anxious and ready to work towards making the Mediterranean a sea of peace and co-operation among the peoples of the area". 177. So far as the proposal for declaring the Indian Ocean a zone of peace is concerned, our ultimate objective is the removal of all foreign bases from the territories of the littoral and hinterland States of the Indian Ocean; but our first step must be to secure the exclusion of great-Power rivalry and the great-Power military presence from the Indian Ocean, without denying any littoral or hinterland State the right to maintain a military potential that would satisfy the minimum requirements of its security and guarantee it freedom from external interference.