High ranking naval officers, maritime experts emphasise importance of building trust
The two-day International Maritime Security Conference held on October 9 and 10 at the Galle Face Hotel was organised for the eighth consecutive year by the Sri Lanka Navy in partnership with the Ministry of Defence.
The theme for this year’s Galle Dialogue is “Greater Maritime Visibility for Enhanced Maritime Security.”
High ranking naval officers from several countries and maritime security experts emphasised that building trust was key if the global community was to confront a wide range of threats and maritime security challenges such as terrorism, piracy, human trafficking, drug smuggling, gun running and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Those who presented papers spoke on how naval forces were increasingly being called upon to assist in rescue and recovery missions during times of natural disasters. Enhancing maritime visibility was vital to make such efforts to succeed, they pointed out.
In his welcome remarks, Navy Commander Travis Sinniah said that despite the many advances in surveillance and intelligence gathering, the oceans were still exploited for a plethora of illegal activities by both state and non-state actors. He called for more cooperation among global stakeholders given that managing maritime security was a challenging endeavour.
“It is time a consensus was established on cooperation amongst states to share information in creating the finest real time picture of what goes on in the oceans of the world,” Vice Admiral Sinniah said.
The State Minister for Defence and Chief Guest Ruwan Wijewardene, noted that Sri Lanka’s geographic location had meant that it had been at the centre of ancient trading routes linking the East and the West. In today’s context, one of the most important Sea Lanes of Communication (SLoC) as well as Sea Lanes of Trade (SLoT) runs just South of Sri Lanka, he pointed out. “Over 200 ships transit our waters daily, South of Dondra Head, carrying energy to China, Japan and Korea and reciprocal traffic the other way,” Mr. Wijewardene said.
He stressed that Sri Lanka took cognizance of the value of freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of trade and energy across the Indian Ocean to other parts of the globe.
Admiral Scott H. Swift, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, stressed that engagement and building trust remains a critical part of maintaining the inclusive security network that sustains the rules-based order and helps protect freedom of the seas for the benefit of all nations. “As we build trust between our forces, we improve our ability to provide security on a wider scale,” he said, citing the collective response by maritime nations and their navies to reduce the threat of piracy and armed robbery at sea that plagued the Western Indian Ocean for an extended period.
He also noted that the US Pacific Fleet forces joined the Sri Lanka Navy in Trincomalee as part of Exercise CARAT 2017 earlier this month, adding he looked forward to the expansion of military-to-military relations, both from an interoperabil- ity perspective and from the perspective of building trust and cooperation to address mutual challenges.
Representing India, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Karambir Singh said traditional maritime security concerns such as interstate disputes essentially arise out of a certain ‘trust deficit’, which could be attributed to a lack of transparency in strategic intent.
Vice Admiral Singh said major territorial disputes could be resolved satisfactorily if the countries involved were driven by the spirit of cooperation and respect for international laws. Enhanced cooperation and coordination amongst maritime nations was the ‘mantra’ to make the maritime domain more transparent, he said.
Rear Admiral Cui Yuzhong Deputy Commander of East Sea Fleet of China’s Navy said his country’s Navy believed in consultation, joint efforts and common development. “Senior naval officers who presented papers included those from Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, France and Bangladesh. Representatives from several international organisations, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Committee of the Red Cross also made presentations.