DURBAN, June 2019: Sri Lanka will host the First Working Group on Maritime Safety and Security (WGMSS) under the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) from 8-9 August in Colombo. This was revealed by the Sri Lankan delegation at the ninth biannual session of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), which was held in Durban, South Africa from 19-20 June.
Sri Lanka is the lead coordinator of IORA’s Maritime Safety and Security pillar, and the inaugural Working Group session in Colombo will be partly funded by the IORA Special Fund and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The ninth session of the CSO chaired by Ambassador Anil Sooklal, Deputy Director General, Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa was the last CSO meeting hosted by the South African government, prior to handing over the Chairmanship to the UAE.
Speaking at the CSO session, Sri Lanka’s head of delegation Sesath Thambugala, Director, Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs appreciated the stewardship of South Africa since 2017 as the Chair of IORA and expressed keen interest to work with the UAE during its upcoming chairmanship with a view to further deepening the focus on IORA as a pillar of growth in the world.
The delegation further briefed the CSO that Sri Lanka successfully held the Track 1.5 Conference “Indian Ocean: Defining Our Future” in October, 2018 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Building on the success of the first conference, Sri Lanka is ready to host Track 1 Conference “Indian Ocean: Defining Our Future” during the latter half of 2019.
In addition to Sesath Thambugala, other members of the Sri Lankan delegation included Priyangani Hewarathna, Minister Counsellor, Sri Lanka High Commission in Pretoria, and Diana Perera, Assistant Director, Ocean Affairs, Environment & Climate Change, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
IORA, which has its Secretariat in Mauritius, is an inter-governmental organisation that was established in 1997 with the aim of strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 22 Member States and 9 Dialogue Partners.
The current IORA Member States are Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The nine Dialogue Partners are China, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and one Observer, the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG).
