{"id":108731,"date":"2020-11-16T17:15:40","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T00:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108731"},"modified":"2020-11-16T17:15:40","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T00:15:40","slug":"pathfinder-foundation-successfully-concludes-indian-ocean-security-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/16\/pathfinder-foundation-successfully-concludes-indian-ocean-security-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Pathfinder Foundation Successfully Concludes Indian Ocean Security Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pathfinder Foundation<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nPathfinder Foundation\u2019s Indian Ocean Security Conference was successfully\nconcluded after 3-days of deliberations. The virtual event focusing on Maritime\nSecurity and Maritime Governance in the Indian Ocean saw participation of over\n36 countries and an average of one hundred participants from around the world.\nIndian Ocean littoral countries including those members of the Indian Ocean Rim\nAssociation (IORA), its dialogue partners, Government officials from many\ncountries including the Gulf States, diplomatic missions based in Colombo,\nexperts representing think-tanks, research, business community and academia,\nwere represented at this important forum. Among the major countries that\nparticipated were Australia, China, France, India, Iran, Japan, Russia, South\nAfrica, the US and the IORA Secretariat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconference was the culmination of a process that commenced with \u2018Trincomalee Consultations\u2019\nfocusing on the Bay of Bengal, held in 2017 and 2018 and the proposal for a\ndraft of a Code of Conduct for the Indian Ocean by the Pathfinder Foundation.\nThe event, which was chaired by the former Foreign Secretary and National\nSecurity Advisor of India, Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, who also headed the\nmeeting of the International Advisory Group last year to prepare for the\nconference, deliberated on 9 position papers submitted by a handpicked team of\nacademics and professionals. Former Ambassador Geetha de Silva functioned as\nSecretary General of the Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconference discussed three broad areas covering Maritime Security; Enhancing\nConnectivity; and Mistrust and Trust Deficiency.  There was broad\nagreement that the situation in the Indian Ocean region has undergone a sea\nchange since the Declaration of Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace by the United\nNations in 1971. In the interim, major naval powers have found it necessary to\nconverge on the Indian Ocean to safeguard their maritime interests and to keep\nthe vital sea lines of communication open in an environment where non-state\nactors have seriously threatened international shipping. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among\nsome of the issues discussed, was the need have a mechanism to ensure good\nconduct at sea and freedom of navigation to be enjoyed by all parties without\nexception.  Chairman, Pathfinder Foundation and Co-Chair of the\nconference, Bernard Goonetilleke highlighted that there already was a Code of\nConduct (CoC) for the Western Indian Ocean, based on the Djibouti CoC and\nobserved that in 2018 the Foundation had proposed a draft of a CoC for purpose\nof discussing options to secure the Indian Ocean. Taking a page from the\ncurrent developments heightened by mutual distrust, there was a strong case for\ndeveloping a cooperative security architecture for the Indian Ocean, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconference also discussed the need for better arrangements to monitor the\nIndian Ocean and collect information on merchant shipping, in addition to\nmovement of warships, which requires expansion of current arrangements for\nMaritime Domain Awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nlast session on \u2018Mistrust and trust deficiency\u2019, generated considerable\ndiscussion, which highlighted the need for an arrangement for Confidence\nBuilding Measures to be observed by all parties concerned.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart\nfrom senior level participation in its inaugural and working sessions, the\nconcluding session included special remarks by Mr. Dean Thompson, Principal\nDeputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of\nthe U S Department of State and Mr. Endo Kazuya, Deputy Asst. Minister and\nDirector, Management and Coordination Division, Minister\u2019s Secretariat of the\nGovernment of Japan. Concluding remarks were delivered by Co-Chairs of the\nevent, Amb. Shivshankar Menon; Pathfinder Chairman, Bernard Goonetilleke; while\nSecretary General of the conference Geetha de Silva delivered the Vote of\nThanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nPathfinder team that supported the conference included Ameera Arooz, Director\nProgrammes; Gayathri de Soyza; Yasalani Amarasinghe; and Uttara Wanigasekera. A\nreport on the proceedings will be published and circulated among interested\nparties, which will also be available at the website of the Conference\nSecretariat: www.pathfinderfoundation.lk<\/a>. \nContributing to the wider discourse on policy governing the Indian Ocean, the\nPathfinder Indian Ocean Security Conference will be convened at regular\nintervals.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pathfinder Foundation The Pathfinder Foundation\u2019s Indian Ocean Security Conference was successfully concluded after 3-days of deliberations. The virtual event focusing on Maritime Security and Maritime Governance in the Indian Ocean saw participation of over 36 countries and an average of one hundred participants from around the world. Indian Ocean littoral countries including those members […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}