Ranil on Middle East crisis Heads of state in the region should meet at least once in two years

• Says Sri Lanka and other nations in the region should integrate to safeguard the Indian Ocean

By Yohan Perera 

Whilst highlighting that Sri Lanka should integrate with others in the Indian Ocean region in the wake of the Middle East conflict, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe said heads of state in the region should meet at least once in two years to discuss important matters. 

Wickremesinghe made this remark while speaking during a discussion organised by Synergia Foundation the other day. 

“Without close cooperation and personal discussions, we will not be able to have the type of integration which we require. 

We must have regular meetings between the heads of government of our countries. Heads of government should meet at least once in two years. We must discuss issues concerning political affairs, maritime affairs, trade and economic integration, agriculture and climate change.

The African region has brought Africa 2060. Should we not look at a similar document? It will pave the way for long-term integration and cooperation in the Indian Ocean. We, the Indian Ocean nations, discuss economic integration, but we have not implemented it. 

We must go for it. We have the document on the economic integration of the Indian Ocean and the role India could play. We must reduce trade barriers. We have to improve ports and logistics.Why don’t we have tax free Indian Ocean? We have to look at fisheries and climate change. 

I am advocating that political issues should be discussed, at least we can talk about them. If we can focus on maritime safety. We have the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium and the Colombo Security conclave. Member states of the Colombo Security Conclave have looked into the security of the region, but have not looked into political cooperation. Indian Ocean nations should take the lead in it,” he said. 

“Sri Lanka and other nations in the region should integrate to safeguard the Indian Ocean in the face of the conflict in the Middle East, while the cooperation should be broad-based to cover trade, industrialisation, maritime security and political cooperation. There is a lack of integration in the Indian Ocean region, in the midst of which Israel and the US are engaged in a war with Iran. 

“Two of our side states, Israel and the US, are bombing Iran within the region,” he said. We also see Iran bombing nations within the Gulf region. It has extended further than West Asia. We had a US submarine sink an Iranian ship within our region. This was in an area where we are concern on maritime safety. Response or lack of response shows our helplessness,” he added.  “Out of the water bodies in the world Indian Ocean is the oldest civilisation and has connections between different societies. We have seen in the Atlantic a political cooperation never seen before. Trade has increased and has reached a level which we call trade integration. 

The military aspect is covered by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). In the Pacific zone, over the last half a century, we have had strong trade and political cooperation. The Asia Pacific Cooperation, RCEP are part of that cooperation. Also, there are bilateral discussions which are going on. The US is in dialogue with China and with Russia. Russia and China are in discussions with each other. The US talks with European states. European states talk to each other. All this is lacking in the Indian Ocean,” he also said.