India pitched for a collective strategy against the menace of piracy at seas, saying it has become "some kind of a global scourge" and other countries would have to be involved in the battle against it.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Council of Ministers meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim - Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the nature of trade (sea) routes are such that piracy cannot be fought by a single country, PTI reported.

To a question, he said piracy cannot be fought by the 18-nation regional grouping alone and other countries, including China and the US, would have to be made part of the strategy to fight it. "We will have to strengthen our sea-lane communication systems...", he said.

India has formally taken over from Yemen the chair of IOR-ARC for a period of two years. The bilateral trade between India and the rest of the IOR-ARC member countries is USD280 billion annually comprising USD160 billion of imports and USD120 billion of exports, officials said.

Krishna said the Indian Ocean has assumed critical role from geo-political point of view. "....it's necessary for all the countries associated with the Indian Ocean Rim to pool their efforts in order to understand the dynamics of the situation", he said.

Krishna said political networking relationship among the 18-member grouping would be strengthened. Besides India and Yemen, the countries in the grouping are: Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and the UAE.