The three nations signed the pact for the hub during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka, the first by a global leader since Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office in September.

New Delhi and Colombo have worked to deepen ties as India’s southern neighbour recovers from a severe financial crisis triggered in 2022, during which India provided $4 billion in financial assistance.

Saturday’s agreement boosts New Delhi’s competition with China, whose state energy firm Sinopec (600028.SS) has signed a deal to build a $3.2-billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka’s southern port city of Hambantota.

The energy hub in the strategically important city of Trincomalee, a natural harbour in the Sri Lanka’s east, will involve construction of a multi-product pipeline and may include using a World War Two tank farm partly held by the Sri Lankan subsidiary of Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS), Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in Colombo.

“The UAE is a strategic partner for India in the energy space and therefore was an ideal partner for this exercise that is being done for the first time in the region,” Misri said. “The exact contours of UAE’s role will be elaborated once the business to business discussions kick off.”

The three nations will next choose business entities that will consider the financing and feasibility of projects for the hub, he said.

Modi also inaugurated a $100 million solar power project, a joint venture between Ceylon Electricity Board and India’s National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC.NS).

India and Sri Lanka also concluded their debt restructuring process, Foreign Secretary Misri said. Sri Lanka owes about $1.36 billion in loans to EXIM Bank of India and State Bank of India, according to Sri Lanka Finance Ministry data.

Colombo kicked off debt restructuring talks after it defaulted on its debt in May 2022, signing a preliminary deal with bilateral creditors Japan, India and China last June.

India and Sri Lanka also signed pacts on power grid connectivity, digitalisation, security and healthcare.

The attack Friday on the CMA CGM Symi comes as global shipping increasingly finds itself targeted in the weekslong war that threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the Malta-flagged vessel was suspected to have been targeted by a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136 drone while in international waters. The drone exploded, causing damage to the ship but not injuring any of its crew.

What to know about the Israel-Hamas war today:

• Hamas agreed to release 13 Israelis and seven foreigners late Saturday in exchange for 39 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, Qatari and Egyptian mediators said.
• The militant group had delayed the second round of swaps for several hours and claimed that Israel had violated the terms of a truce deal.
• Palestinian militants in a West Bank refugee camp shot and killed two alleged collaborators with Israel early Saturday, Palestinian officials said.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the official said. The official declined to elaborate on what intelligence the U.S. military gathered to assess that Iran was behind the attack, though authorities suspect Tehran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard carried out the assault.

The same drones have been used by Russia in its war on Ukraine, as recently as in a barrage launched Saturday that Kyiv described as Moscow’s biggest drone attack since the war began.

Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that an Israeli ship had been targeted in the Indian Ocean. The channel cited anonymous sources for the report, which Iranian media later cited.

CMA CGM, a major shipper based in Marseille, France, referred questions to the Symi’s owner, Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping. That company is ultimately controlled by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.

A statement issued on behalf of Eastern Pacific acknowledged the company being “aware of claims that a container ship under the company’s management was targeted in a possible security incident overnight on Friday.”

“The vessel in question is currently sailing as planned,” the statement said. “All crew are safe and well.”

The company through representatives declined to answer any questions. The Israeli military referred questions to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which did not respond.

In November 2022, the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon, also associated with Eastern Pacific, sustained damage in a suspected Iranian attack off Oman.

In recent days, the Symi’s crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship faced a threat.

The ship had its Automatic Identification System tracker switched off since Tuesday when it left Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. It had done the same earlier when traveling through the Red Sea past Yemen, home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

“The attack is likely to have been targeted, due to the vessel’s Israeli affiliation through Eastern Pacific Shipping,” the private intelligence firm Ambrey told the AP. “The vessel’s AIS transmissions were off days prior to the event, indicating this alone does not prevent an attack.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations didn’t respond to a request for comment. However, Tehran and Israel have been engaged in a yearslong shadow war in the wider Middle East, with some drone attacks targeting Israeli-associated vessels traveling around the region.

In the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the militants’ Oct. 7 attack, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship in the Red Sea off Yemen.

On Saturday, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, said “an entity declaring itself to be the Yemeni authorities” had ordered at least one ship away from a location off Hodeida, Yemen, in the Red Sea.

“Vessels in the vicinity are advised to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity,” it warned.

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also have launched attacks on American troops in both Iraq and Syria during the war. However, Iran itself has yet to be linked directly to an attack.

“Iran has been wary of intervening in the ongoing Middle East crisis and is likely to avoid any action that might escalate the conflict,” the Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk firm, said in an analysis. “Small-scale attacks on U.S. forces and Israel by Iran’s allies throughout the region suggest Tehran is willing to turn up the heat in a limited fashion, but unless the attacks cause U.S. casualties or significant damage, a major U.S. response is unlikely.”

Meanwhile on Saturday, Bahrain’s state-run news agency reported that its national carrier, Gulf Air, had been targeted in a hack that may have seen “some information from its email and client database” accessed.

A statement posted online by a self-described group calling itself Al-Toufan, or “The Flood” in Arabic, claimed the hacking of Gulf Air. Days earlier, another statement claimed that it hacked the Foreign Ministry and other government websites purportedly over the island kingdom’s stance on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The plane, a Boeing 777 carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members, landed safely at Russia’s Magadan airport in the country’s far east on Tuesday, Air India said in a statement.

The flight “developed a technical issue with one of its engines,” the statement said, adding that the aircraft was undergoing safety checks and the passengers were being provided support on the ground.

Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesman, said that American citizens were likely on the flight but could not immediately confirm how many. He said his understanding was that Air India would be sending a replacement aircraft to Russia so the passengers could continue their travel to the U.S.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation,” Patel said.

Girvaan Kaahma, 16, was traveling on the flight with his uncle and brother. He said they are barred from leaving the hostel where they are staying in Magadan and can’t use their credit cards to buy items from the vending machine because of sanctions over Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Kaahma said the airline told the passengers they would likely leave Russia for the U.S. on Thursday.

Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said the Australian authority had already sent four airplanes and three ships to the search area, which is in the center of the Indian Ocean.

No survivors or life rafts have been spotted.

Xiao said China wanted to coordinate with “friendly countries,” including Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, on the search and rescue effort following the capsizing Tuesday. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the search coordinator, said the upturned hull was spotted Tuesday from a cargo ship 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) northwest of the Australian west coast city of Perth.

Chinese authorities say the missing crew includes 17 from China, 17 from Indonesia and five from the Philippines.

“We wish that they could send more — more aircraft, more ships and more staff,” Xiao told reporters, referring to Australian authorities. “We wish that our Australian colleagues would coordinate with other international or foreign vessels or ships near that area … to help the search and rescue to save as many lives as possible.”

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang ordered Chinese diplomats, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors.

Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines have also expressed their willingness to join in the search, and merchant and fishing vessels in the area searched for survivors Wednesday.

The search authority said the multinational search effort was continuing Thursday over an area of 12,000 square kilometers (4,600 square miles) south of where the upturned hull was found.

An Australian military P-8A Poseiden aircraft and a chartered aircraft based in Perth would rejoin the search after spending the night in the Maldives, the authority said in a statement. Australia was liaising with the Chinese Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, with three Chinese naval ships continuing the search.

“A number of merchant ships and other vessels have been assisting with the search and will continue to do so today,” the statement said.

The authority would not reveal how many ships and aircraft were involved in the search. “We are not supplying that level of detail at this stage,” the authority said in an email.

Transport Minister Catherine King, who is responsible for the search authority, was traveling overseas and was not available for comment, her office said.

No word was given on the cause of the capsizing.

The capsized boat, Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028, was based in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, operated by the Penglai Jinglu Fishery Co. Ltd., according to reports. Another Chinese vessel, Lu Peng Yuan Yu 018, is operating near to the upturned hull and has been asked to conduct a grid search for survivors, according to Indonesian authorities.

Broadcaster CCTV said the sinking happened around 3 a.m. Tuesday. The crew includes 17 from China, 17 from Indonesia and five from the Philippines, the report said.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang have ordered Chinese diplomats abroad, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors.

The Chinese reports did not identify the exact location of the sinking, just that it occurred in the center of the vast Indian Ocean that stretches from South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula to east Africa and western Australia.

The Philippine Coast Guard Command Center said Wednesday it was monitoring the situation and coordinating with the Chinese Embassy in Manila, as well as search and rescue teams operating near the vessel’s last known location.

The Lupenglaiyuanyu No. 8 was based in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, operated by the Penglaiyingyu Co. Ltd., according to the Chinese reports. It was also identified by the hull numbers 18 and 028.

China is believed to operate the world’s largest fishing fleet. Many of them stay at sea for months or even years at a time, supported by Chinese state maritime security agencies and a sprawling network of support vessels.

No word was given on the cause of the sinking, although weather and high seas often play a role in such tragedies.

Recovery efforts are currently underway in Myanmar and Bangladesh after a powerful cyclone smashed into their coastlines along the Bay of Bengal at the Indian Ocean’s northern end, causing widespread destruction and at least 21 deaths, with hundreds of others believed missing.

Chinese squid fishing ships have been documented using wide nets to illegally catch already overfished tuna as part of a surge in unregulated activity in the Indian Ocean, according to a report released in 2021 by a Norway-based watchdog group that highlighted growing concerns about the lack of international cooperation to protect marine species on the high seas.

The group, called Trygg Mat Tracking, found that the number of squid vessels in the high seas of the Indian Ocean — where fishing of the species is not regulated — has increased six-fold since 2016.

The U.S. Coast Guard was also involved in a dangerous confrontation with Chinese vessels not far from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands in 2022 during a mission to inspect the vessels for any signs of illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing.

Chinese fishing vessels operating illegally are known to sail “dark,” with their mandatory tracking device that gives a ship’s position either switched off, transmitting intermittently, or providing false identifiers. If that was the case in the latest sinking, rescue and recovery efforts could become far more challenging.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was believed to have gone down somewhere in the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard. That Boeing 777, which remains missing, became invisible to civilian radar when its transponder locating device stopped transmitting during a flight from Kuala Lumpur.

Dhaka (AP) — Representatives from 25 Indian Ocean nations discussed regional economic growth, cooperation and security at the Indian Ocean Conference in Bangladesh on Friday as the Indo-Pacific grows in importance amid changes in the world order.

Government officials and experts discussed the Russia-Ukraine war prominently in several sessions, reflecting concerns about how countries in the region would align themselves in the new complex order stemming from the war.

“The Indian Ocean has reemerged as an important area, not only for economic resources, but also because … it has gradually been becoming a theater of geopolitics,” said Delwar Hossain, professor of international relations at Dhaka University. “So now we can see that the littoral countries of the Indian Ocean are facing a new context, particularly when we see Ukraine.”

Countries in the region have had to cope with rising inflation and supply chain disruptions as well as questions of security alignments as a result of the war.

Bangladesh is hosting the two-day conference, organized by the India Foundation with the affiliation of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China is attending as an observer, while Myanmar was not invited because of continuing violence following its military’s seizure of power.

The Indian Ocean Conference started in 2016, and in the past six years it has emerged as the flagship consultative forum for countries in the region on regional affairs.

The region includes 38 countries in the region, including 13 in Africa, 22 in Asia and one in Oceania that border the Indian Ocean, and two European countries that administer several dependencies or overseas territories in the region.

The vast Indian Ocean is vital for global trade and energy resources, but also faces challenges such as piracy, terrorism and geopolitical tensions, organizers say.

Veena Sikri, a former Indian ambassador to Bangladesh, said the importance of the region has increased in recent times as the countries around it become increasingly interconnected.

She said the conference is crucial because China is in conflict with rivals including the U.S., Japan and India in the Indo-Pacific region over establishing supremacy and controlling sea routes.

“Now, this time, the focus of this Indian Ocean conference is on the Indo-Pacific because that is the trend of the future,” she said.