Galle Dialogue 2014 begins tomorrow:

Cooperation and collaboration for maritime prosperity

By Ranil Wijayapala

Sri Lanka, a country situated close to the lucrative East - West shipping route, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, was not in a position to reap benefits from its typical and strategic location in the Indian Ocean due to the menace of LTTE terrorism that plagued the country for three decades from early 1980s.

The end of humanitarian operation in 2009 which defeated the LTTE terrorism both in the land and the sea, opened up many avenues for Sri Lanka to prosper and shine among the international community by making use of its blissful resources and strategic location for its future prosperity.

It also made Sri Lanka's desire to become a naval and maritime hub, in its march towards becoming the Wonder of Asia, as mentioned in the Mahinda Chinthana vision for future prosperity of Sri Lanka, more stronger.

Reputation

Following the end of the humanitarian operation, Sri Lanka Navy, which earned a reputation for the victories it achieved, in its effort to vanquish the LTTE terror networks across the sea, remained in a higher pedestal among the naval and maritime communities across the globe giving it an opportunity to play a leading role among the maritime domain.

Therefore, when the country is working tirelessly to make Sri Lanka a Naval and Maritime Hub in Asia by improving its ports and other maritime related facilities, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, Gotabaya Rajapaksa initiated the 'Galle Dialogue' to provide a platform for the Naval community to discuss maritime issues that affects Indian ocean nations and the other maritime nations as a whole out at sea.

Today, five years after its inception in 2010, the international maritime conference 'Galle Dialogue' has become a wide platform among the maritime nations across the globe to discuss the issues affecting the shipping and naval community with increasing number of countries becoming participants of this international conference.

Therefore, Sri Lanka is ready to host the fifth edition of the 'Galle Dialogue 2014' tomorrow (December 1) at the historic port city in Galle, for the fifth consecutive year opening up yet another opportunity for the maritime nations representing more than 39 countries to discuss maritime issues.

The two-day conference to be unfolded at the Light House hotel in Galle, tomorrow is aimed at discussing the maritime issues under the theme, "Cooperation & Collaboration for Maritime Prosperity" and will focus primarily on cooperation and collaboration beyond maritime security in reaping maritime benefits for prosperity.

Therefore, Sri Lanka, a country which believes that the future of the nation lies in the ocean, will be an ideal platform for the maritime nations to discuss and pursue matters of bilateral and multilateral interest in the maritime sphere in pursuing maritime prosperity.

Platform

Sri Lanka becomes an ideal host for this maritime conference due to its neutral and non-aligned position maintained in world politics. Therefore, Sri Lanka can provide a common platform for all maritime nations to sit together and discuss issues relating to the maritime domain. Countries such as India, Pakistan, China, United States or any country can share their views at this forum and draw attention of the other nations towards the maritime issues that may affect their nations and come to conclusions on any maritime issue on a common platform.

Therefore, 'Galle Dialogue' has provided a platform for any nation to draw attention towards any maritime issues relating to their nations and pursue bilateral, trilateral or multilateral level discussions to negate those threats they consider as threats for their nations and the shipping industry.

Having this conference in an Indian Ocean country has also become significant as the Indian Ocean has become crucial in this century as more than 60 percent of the world energy requirement comes from the middle East. All these energy moves through the Indian ocean. With this situation, keeping the Indian Ocean safe and secure for their energy supplies has become vital for every nation.

Keeping Indian ocean safe and secure for trading activities has also become a vital factor for countries across the globe as it has become a central point of a huge market consisting of more than one third of the world population, with two billion population in China, over 1.2 billion population in India and other South East Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia with rising populations in the world.

Discussing the issues relating to piracy, marine pollution among the nations making use of the Indian Ocean for their trade activities has also become a vital factor.

Since participants of this international maritime conference consist of senior level Navy officers in the ranks of Vice Admiral and Rear Admiral, they are in a position to convince the respective governments and their commands about the issues discussed at this conference and to pursue those issues at bilateral and multilateral level when taking action to negate those threats.

'Galle Dialogue' has become a result-oriented conference in pursuing maritime issues among the maritime nations enabling them to discuss and execute plans to negate the issues identified and discussed at this conference.

For Sri Lanka as a country which has kept hopes in the blue ocean economy for its future prosperity , it is vital to keep the Indian ocean free from environmental pollution and from other illegal activities such as drug trafficking and human smuggling as it would affect the future prospects of using the sea area around the country for its future development activities.

Whether it is piracy or maritime pollution in the Indian Ocean, as a small maritime nation, Sri Lanka won't be in a position to handle any of those issues that may arise in the Indian Ocean single handedly. Therefore it needs collaboration of other maritime nations to handle the issues relating to marine pollution and other threats such as piracy. Therefore, Sri Lanka by organising a conference of this nature creates the cohabitation among the maritime nations in handling these issues collectively.

In return the nations participating at this conference will also benefit from the conference by having an opportunity to discuss the issues relating to their nations at a wider forum and get the feedback and assistance to tackle those issues collectively.

An increasing number of nations have confirmed their participation in this conference. Setting sail with 11 countries onboard at its inception in 2010 today it has risen to 39 countries, having welcomed 20 in 2011, 17 in 2012 and 35 in 2013.

According to Sri Lanka Navy, local and foreign scholars and experts in maritime and naval affairs representing 39 countries are expected to share their views at this two-day dialogue to be held under the theme, "Cooperation & Collaboration for Maritime Prosperity", at the Lighthouse Hotel on December 1 and 2.

Significant

Delivering of keynote address by the National Security Advisor of India Dr. Ajit Kumar Doval at the invitation of the Secretary of Defence and Urban Development Ministry Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be a significant event at this year's 'Galle Dialogue'. Minister of Foreign Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris who is participating as the chief guest is scheduled to address the conference under the theme "Towards a Blue Economy" during the first session. Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera will make the welcome speech at the conference.

This year's Galle Dialogue explores the ways and means to synergise the efforts of cooperation and collaboration to achieve maritime prosperity. Maritime Prosperity is not evaluated only by the naval prowess or technological superiority; it is defined by a combination of aspects such as policies, legislation, law enforcement capacities, policing capabilities, investments, shipping etc.

Whilst each nation may use different yardsticks to grade their maritime prosperity, it is the level of confidence placed by other nations that determines one's standing in the area of maritime prosperity. It is these yardstick measurements that need to be evaluated within the overall context of maritime security and peace.

The Dialogue envisages the exchange of different perspective on how nations perceive their standing and position in fulfilling security, scientific, academic and technical aspirations in a domain that unites nations for common interests.

Although Governments are at the forefront of maritime administration, it is mostly the private users that exploit the economic benefits on their behalf. Hence, today's maritime domain encompasses public-private concerns at equal settings too. In this context, the voice of the industry stakeholders as well as academics and independent analysts will also be taken onboard at this conference.

Course

The inaugural "Galle Dialogue" held in 2010 was held under the theme "Charting the Course for Sustainable Maritime Security Cooperation". The conference that followed was held under the theme, "Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns". Its third edition, "Galle Dialogue 2012" steered towards maritime security and prosperity under the theme "Strategic Maritime Cooperation and Partnership to face the Future with Confidence". The Galle Dialogue 2013 held last year examined the "Emerging Maritime Trends in the Indian Ocean".

As the Galle Dialogue completes five years since inception, it is hoped that these important deliberations would provide an opportunity for participating nations to gain a better understanding of interconnected issues and assist in making the seas safer for all.