On August 4, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka were joined by Bangladesh, Mauritius and Seychelles to establish a maritime security mechanism for Indian Ocean Region including the Bay of Bengal amid China’s growing presence in the area, reports The Economic Times. The deputy NSA level meeting of six states titled ‘Colombo Security Conclave’ held, identified four pillars of cooperation Marine Safety and Security, Terrorism and Radicalization, Trafficking and Organised Crime and Cyber security, according to persons familiar with the deliberations. It discussed specific proposals for cooperation on and each of these pillars including holding regular interaction, joint exercises, capacity building and training activities, according to one of the persons quoted above. This trilateral cooperation framework was initially established in 2011.