First time: Asian agreement on combating piracy and armed robbery at sea

India will join Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos Peoples Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam in an agreement to fight piracy at sea as reported here:

The Agreement is the first of its kind for combating piracy and armed robbery at Sea in Asia. It will strengthen cooperation amongst the contracting parties in the prevention and suppression of armed robbery and in tracing, identification and prosecution of the persons involved in such acts and would help in making the sea lanes in the region secure.

An important regional step. To date, though, only Laos, Japan and Singapore have signed and ratified the agreement.