Liberia, India Form Maritime Safety and Security Pact

New York Somewhere tonight, on a tanker crossing the Red Sea or a bulk carrier waiting off a Gulf port, there is a sailor who has not seen his family in months. The ship he works on may be owned in Greece, managed in Singapore and crewed from Mumbai. But there is a good chance the flag flying from its stern is Liberia’s. That quiet fact sits at the heart of a new diplomatic partnership launched Friday in New York. On the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti and India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar unveiled the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers, known by the shorthand GoF on S4. On paper it is another UN coalition. In practice, it is a meeting of two countries whose stakes in global shipping are enormous but very different: one owns the flag, the other supplies the hands. A Natural, If Unusual, Partnership Liberia has for years run the world’s largest shipping registry by gross tonnage, a remarkable standing for a small West African nation still rebuilding after war. India, for its part, is one of the biggest sources of the people who actually sail those ships. That makes the two countries natural allies at a time when the sea has become more dangerous. When a Liberian-flagged vessel is attacked, the crew on board is very often from South Asia. When Indian seafarers are stranded or harmed, the flag state is frequently Liberia. The new group formalizes a relationship that already existed on thousands of decks. Nyanti called the launch a landmark diplomatic and maritime achievement. She reminded delegates that the global economy moves on the oceans, with more than 80 percent of the goods that sustain economies worldwide carried by sea. The Danger on the Water Jaishankar was blunt about why the group is needed now. He pointed to recent attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Black Sea, noting that such incidents have cost innocent lives, including those of Indian seafarers. Attacks on civilian shipping that disrupt trade and endanger lives, he said, are unacceptable. For Liberia, those headlines are not abstract. Several Liberian-flagged vessels have been among the ships struck in Red Sea attacks in recent years, putting the country’s flag in the middle of conflicts it has no part in. Beyond the missiles and pirates, Jaishankar described a quieter set of hardships: sailors confined aboard ships for months, crew changes and repatriation delayed, long separation from families and the psychological strain that follows. Nearly two million seafarers keep the world’s merchant fleets moving, he said, and they deserve stronger international protection. Three Pillars, and a Promise Not to Duplicate Nyanti laid out what the group is meant to stand on: safety of shipping, security of maritime transport and protection of seafarers. On safety, she stressed strict technical standards, vessel compliance and environmental stewardship. On security, she spoke of protecting commercial sea lanes from piracy, armed attacks, regional instability and emerging asymmetric threats. On seafarers, she named crew abandonment, fair labor standards, rapid medical help and protection for crews passing through conflict zones. She was also careful to say what the group is not. It is meant to be action-oriented and to complement, not duplicate, the work of the International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization. That is an important signal in a UN system already crowded with overlapping bodies. India has brought ideas of its own. Jaishankar recalled New Delhi’s proposal at the recent BRICS Summit for a Seafarers Emergency Support Network that would link maritime authorities and embassies to handle distress alerts, medical help, family communication and evacuations. India also co-hosted, with Greece and the Philippines, a UN Arria Formula meeting on the protection of seafarers in November 2025.