‘Colombo Defence Seminar’ on Sept. 1-2 at BMICH

The annual ‘Colombo Defence Seminar,’ organised by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence, will be held on September 1 and 2 at the BMICH. The theme of this year’s international conference, held since 2011, will be 'Soft Power and Its Influence on Global Issues'.

This year’s two- day international conclave will have about 800 invitees including 125 foreign participants from 71 countries, in attendance.

Defence Ministry Secretary, Karunasena Hettiarchchi will make the keynote address on the opening day.

According to the SLA, the seminar would serve as an audience to provide intellectual connectivity amongst those who seek strategic, sub-regional, regional, and global partnerships, by convening prominent national and international scholars, think-tanks, and diplomats around this particular theme.

Scholars, experts, think-tanks, diplomats and military leaders from the participating countries including the host nation, are scheduled to make presentations during the sessions, in a number of thematic topics including 'Concept of Power', 'Soft Power and Its Varied Impact', 'Soft Power', 'Peace-Building and Armed Forces' and' Influence of Soft Power on Global Issues'.

The seminar would be designed with sequenced sessions comprising of presentations, panel discussions, and participant- oriented group discussions to optimise the discourse and to enhance knowledge on the entire gamut of Soft Power and its Influence on Global Issues. It would specifically focus on public, cultural and economic diplomacy as tools of creating Soft Power, the roles and activities of the emerging powers and the use of military Soft Power through public diplomacy in disaster management issues and peacekeeping operations.