The warehouse is all about strategies and security

International experts meet at the invitation of GIDS and iFMS

Naval officers and scientists from five continents recently met in Hamburg's Speicherstadt warehouse district to discuss issues of maritime strategy and security. They accepted an invitation from the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (GIDS) and the interdisciplinary research focus Maritime Security (iFMS) at the Helmut Schmidt University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg. The conference venue was the Hanseatic International Maritime Museum.

The participants from Argentina, Australia, India, Canada, the Philippines and Germany exchanged views on conflict scenarios in the Indo-Pacific, including with regard to the security interests of Australia, the Philippines and India, some of which have received too little attention from Europe to date. The still new tri-national cooperation between Australia, the UK and the USA was also a topic of discussion. The geopolitical impact of so-called non-traditional maritime threats was also on the agenda. Discussions centred on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing by the Chinese fishing fleet, for example, interministerial action to protect critical maritime infrastructure, maritime challenges in the South Atlantic using Argentina as an example, questions regarding Canada's strategic maritime orientation and, finally, advice for political decision-makers.

Pradeep Chauhan, Justin Burke and Aries Aruguay (from left), Photos: Christian Lauw

Against the backdrop of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius' visit to the world's most populous country, the discussions focused in particular on India and the maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean. This was not least in view of the increasing systemic rivalry between the West and China. The discussions revealed that the Western hemisphere knows too little about India, its security and military policy challenges, interests, cornerstones and its view of the world. The GIDS will therefore include India in its portfolio of research priorities. This is in line with the Minister of Defence, who has called for relations with India to be "aligned with the way Japan and Australia are treated". This strategic rapprochement is a "relatively logical next step" for Germany.

The five-member international delegation was made up of retired Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Director National Maritime Foundation of India), Paul Chamberlain (Australian National University), Justin Burke (The Lowy Institute and Institute for Security Policy Kiel), Juan Erardo Battaleme Martinez (Academic Director of the think tank Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales) and Dr Aries Aruguay (University of the Philippines).

The German delegation consisted of Kapitän zur See Dr André Pecher, Korvettenkapitän Dr Moritz Brake and Kapitänleutnant Tobias Kollakowski (all GIDS), Julian Pawlak and Dr Deniz Kocak (both GIDS and iFMS).

The expert discussion was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation as part of the Global Dialogue Programme on Maritime Security. Afterwards, the international guests and the experts from GIDS and iFMS took part in the Kiel International Seapower Symposium, a scientific workshop organised by the ISPK entitled Needs and Opportunities in German Naval History and Recent Strategy and the Kiel Security Conference 2023.

Captain Dr André Pecher is Deputy Head of Research at the German Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (GIDS), Captain Christian Lauw is a media designer at GIDS.

André Pecher and Christian Lauw