From 3 to 4 September 2019, the 4th Indian Ocean Conference was co-hosted in Maldives by India Foundation, Foreign Service Institute of Maldives (FOSIM) and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. It brought together nearly 300 government officials, naval representatives and scholars from more than 40 countries including the United States, Britain, Japan, Russia, India, Sri Lanka and China. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, President of Maldives, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sir Lanka, Toshiko Abe, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore and Harry Harris, the US Ambassador to Republic of Korea attended the Conference and delivered remarks. Dr. Yan Yan, Director of the Research Center of Oceans Law and Policy of NISCSS, delivered a speech entitled “Maritime Security Challenges in the Indian Ocean and China's Experience” on the panel of “Navigational Security.”

The Conference was concerned with the theme of “Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional & Non-Traditional Challenges.” All parties agreed that piracy and armed robbery at sea are the main challenges affecting navigational security, and supported countries to jointly maintain lasting peace, stability and prosperity of the Indian Ocean region through strengthened communication, mutual trust, and anti-piracy cooperation.