I would therefore urge you to forget the fact that many of you are on government payrolls. Try to set aside national positions and resist feeling committed to particular outcomes. It is those areas where greatest progress can be made and where the need is growing most quickly. Rapid growth in regional wealth and integration is conventionally seen as a facilitator for enhanced regional security. But it can equally be a catalyst for increased illegal immigration, smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, the spread of AIDS and environmental degradation.
Maritime issues are increasingly important.
Alongside positive developments such as maritime cooperation and joint development of resources, greater attention is now turning to issues such as piracy, the safety of sea lanes and the coordination of search and rescue operations. The region is faced with a raft of broad security issues. Many of these are closely interlinked. In Africa, for example, population movements, war and famine typically come in a package, and it is not always clear which is cause and which is effect. In South Asia, particularly between India and Bangladesh, and in the Middle East, riparian disputes, exacerbated by population increases, have the capacity to aggravate political tensions.