Pathfinder to co-host one-day confab

The Pathfinder Foundation together with Carnegie India and an Australian delegation led by the National Security College at the Australian National University will co-host a one-day trilateral conference titled ‘Colombo Dialogue: Emerging Dialogue in the Indian Ocean - Regional Cooperation on Maritime Domain Awareness’ tomorrow at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo. The Dialogue will be sponsored by the Australian High Commission.

Considering the geo-strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region in the current global and regional economic and geopolitical dynamics, the co-hosts consider it important to share knowledge and engage in a discourse on this significant area of interest in order to ensure greater security, collaboration and cooperation in the region and beyond. 

With a more globally-connected economy and the Indian Ocean Region’s continued reliance on the maritime environment for trade and commerce, it is important to ensure a safe and secure maritime domain, which is critical to national security and economic well-being of the littorals in the Indian Ocean. 

The challenges facing nations have vastly changed over the past decade and make the future security environment increasingly complicated and uncertain. The first step toward enhancing maritime security is achieving increased awareness of activities in the maritime domain. Sri Lanka’s geographically central location in the Indian Ocean at the crossroads of major east-west sea routes in this region makes it a perfect location to engage in such a dialogue.

The conference will cover themes such as; Maritime security in the Indo-Pacific Oceans and transnational security threats; challenges in building regional maritime security architecture in the Indian Ocean; and governance at sea and maritime domain awareness.

This trilateral forum will be held with the participation of Indian, Australian and Sri Lankan academics and subject matter expertsof maritime security, maritime strategy and regional cooperation. Prof. Rory Medcalf, Dr. David Brewster and Commodore (Retd) Richard Menhinick will form the Australian expert delegation while Dr. C. Raja Mohan, Vice Admiral Anil Chopra and Darshana Baruah from India will contribute their expertise. On the Sri Lankan side, former Commanders of the Sri Lanka Navy, Admiral Dr. Jayanath Colombage Admiral Travis Sinniah and Barana Waidyatillake from the Lakshman Kadiragamar Institute will provide their insights during the proceedings.