Fostering strong partnerships among the maritime community to overcome challenges and threats in the maritime domain is gaining significance as never before, State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said.
He said the emergence of non-traditional threats such as piracy, maritime terrorism, illegal trafficking and environmental degradation has become a major concern in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Maritime challenges now arise from an increasingly dynamic irregular network and consist of unorthodox elements that can disrupt the security and safety of our maritime domain,” the State Defence Minister said.
State Defence Minister Wijewardene was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Working Level Meeting of the 15th Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting (HACGAM) in Colombo yesterday.
The Sri Lanka Coast Guard is hosting the conference for the first time. The conference concludes tomorrow (11). Maritime professionals of the Coast Guard Agencies and Maritime Law Enforcement Agencies from 22 countries are participating in this international conference which is themed ‘Safe, Secure and Clean Seas’.
The State Defence Minister also said it is not easy to predict the challenges the region may encounter in the future with regard to the maritime domain, and therefore, the HACGAM will be helpful in addressing both existing and future challenges.
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