Galle Dialogue
Posted on November 26th, 2013
By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island
Regional as well as global naval powers are participating in the fourth edition of the Galle Dialogue, scheduled to begin today at the Light House Hotel.
Among the participants are those who had been supportive of Sri Lanka’s war against terror paving the way for the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009.
A record number of 35 countries, including the US, China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Israel, the UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Iran, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa and Vietnam are attending the two-day conference.
Navy spokesperson Commander Kosala Warnakulasooriya told The Island that at the inaugural confab in 2010, there had been only representatives from 11 countries, the following year 19 and last year there were 28.
Commander Warnakulasooriya said: “We are delighted to have about 90 international representatives in Galle. The gradual increase in the number of participants meant the importance of the event inaugurated close on the heels of Sri Lanka’s victory over the LTTE.”
The Galle Dialogue gets underway in the wake of the Sri Lanka Navy earning the appreciation of Australia for taking meaningful measures to stem illegal migration of people to down under. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited the navy’s flagship SLNS Sayura, formerly of the Indian Navy, at the Colombo Port on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where he announced the gifting of two Bay Class ships to the navy.
Navy Chief Vice Admiral J. S. K. Colombage will deliver the welcome address, while presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa too are scheduled to speak.
Fleet Commander of the Royal Australian Navy Rear Admiral Timothy Barrett will discuss ways and means of curbing people smuggling by close cooperation.
Among those scheduled to make presentations included senior representatives from China, Malaysia, Pakistan, France, Iran, Vietnam and the Maldives.
Meanwhile, Navy headquarters said that five ships of Russia’s Pacific Fleet arrived at the Colombo port on Sunday on their way to home port Vladivostok from the Mediterranean. Russian mission commander Captain 1st Rank Maxim S. Alalykin is attending the Galle Dialogue.”
November 26th, 2013 at 12:43 pm
This is BRILLIANT work by MOD. A worthwhile event than CHOGM (despite the 2 warships we received at CHOGM).
Bringing adversaries into ONE COMMON DEFENCE AGENDA is UNBELIEVABLY successfully.
e.g. Iran and Israel
e.g. Endia and China
e.g. China and Japan
e.g. Endia and Pakistan
e.g. US and Russia
e.g. US and China
SL has done WORLD PEACE and WORLD DEFENCE BIG favor by holding the GD.
There is NO other DEFENCE FORUM in the world where adversaries participate and COOPERATE!!
Well done MOD and GR. Thank you LW for publishing.