India announced its Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) in November 2019 at the East Asia Summit. In the same year, ASEAN came up with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). Similar Indo-Pacific strategies were promoted by Japan, Australia and US during the period. These strategies underlined the importance of partnerships for establishing a rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. In the context of rising China, the geopolitical strategies of ASEAN, India and Australia gain significance for fostering and promoting peace and security in the region.

The Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi, India and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia decided to come together to pool their academic and policy research capacities to build a robust research agenda on the Indo-Pacific. In March 2022, CPPR and Monash University hosted ‘Dialogue on Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI): Strengthening International Cooperation’ in a hybrid (physical-digital) format. Scholars from ASEAN, Australia, India and Japan were invited to discuss the various pillars of the IPOI and accelerated long-term growth in the Indo-Pacific region. The Dialogue was supported by the Department of Foreign Trade (DFAT), Government of Australia.

One of the important sessions in the Dialogue was ‘IPOI Scholars Connect’ in which scholars from ASEAN countries and India shared their perspectives on the IPOI in the context of ASEAN, India and Australia. This digital volume is a compilation of papers presented by these scholars that discuss the existing geopolitical strategies of India and ASEAN and evaluate them from different perspectives. Contemporary issues like marine plastic pollution, maritime connectivity and smart ports are also discussed. It is hoped that the volume will add to exciting scholarship on the subject and trigger policies that contribute to peace, stability and development in the Indo-Pacific region.