India, Dec. 12 -- The present time is colloquially being called the Asian Century for all the right reasons. If the 19th century was Britain's Imperial century and the 20th was American, then the 21st century is apparently becoming the Asian century. By 2020, the economic growth (in purchasing power parity terms) of Asian giants put together will surpass the rest of the world and that is likely to be the future trend as well. The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has played and continues to play a vital role in boosting this Asian prosperity by being the "road of development in the 21st century."

The major source of development for most of the Asian countries is oil, the supply of which comes from West Asia-the Gulf region-while the major consum...