Pathfinder Foundation-Ananta Aspen Centre hold India-SL Strategic Dialogue

From left: Dr. Naushad Forbes, Santosh Jha, Amb. (Retd.) Bernard Goonetilleke, Indrani Bagchi, Amb. (Retd.) Ahmed A. Jawad at the India-Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue hosted by the Pathfinder Foundation

• Held against backdrop of Premier Modi’s visit

The India-Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue, hosted by the Pathfinder Foundation in association with the Ananta Aspen Centre of India, took place in Colombo recently. 

Coming a week before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka on April 5, the dialogue serves as a valuable platform to explore key bilateral and regional matters that are expected to influence the India-Lanka discourse. 

Pathfinder Foundation Chairman Bernard Goonetilleke delivered the opening remarks, followed by Ananta Aspen Centre Chairman Dr. Naushad Forbes. Indian High Commissioner Santhosh Jha delivered special remarks.   

Over four sessions, the subject experts examined the in-depth issues such as balancing great power influence in South Asia, India-Lanka fishing dispute, securing the shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean, defence cooperation within the Indian Ocean framework, India’s role in infrastructure development in Sri Lanka and opportunities for both countries to shape best practices and technology in digital governance. The dialogue emphasised the importance of strengthening India-Lanka economic ties, particularly in the context of Sri Lanka’s post-International Monetary Fund recovery programme.

Session one titled ‘India and Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations’ was moderated by former High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha. Session two titled ‘Strategic Partnerships in the Indian Ocean – India-Sri Lanka Relations for Regional Stability’ was chaired by Pathfinder Foundation Director Ahmed A. Jawad. Anantha Aspen Centre CEO Indrani Bagchi moderated session three on ‘Navigating Investment Opportunities between India and Sri Lanka’, while Information and Communication Technology Agency CEO Mahesh Perera chaired session four, which focused on ‘Digital Public Infrastructure’.  

Jawad and Bagchi delivered the closing remarks. This latest interaction between the Pathfinder and Ananta is the third in their series of discussions.  The representatives of the two institutions held a wrap-up session at a breakfast hosted by Pathfinder Founder Milinda Moragoda, during which they discussed the future programmes they plan to undertake.