Pathfinder holds discussions with Indian think tanks

The Pathfinder Foundation (PF) recently held discussions with counterpart think tanks in India with a view to promote bilateral relations and discuss political, economic and strategic issues.

Director of the Centers for Indo-lanka Initiatives and Law of the Sea of the PF, Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage visited India recently and held several rounds of discussions with four partner think-tanks in New Delhi.

The four meetings/discussion were with the Director of Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) Dr. Arvind Gupta and Dr. Sreeadha Datta, Center Head, Neighbourhood Studies, Senior Fellow of VIF; Deputy Director Commodore Abhay Kumar Singh and faculty of Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA); Director General P.K. Singh of United Service Institution (USI); and Dr. Rudra Chaudhuri of Carnegie India.

The meetings focused on the way forward for enhancing bi-lateral and regional cooperation for economic, political and security in the Indian Ocean region with special focus on South Asia. Pathfinder Foundation and its Center for Indo-lanka Initiatives have been working closely with a number of leading Indian think tanks with a view to promote bi-lateral relations and discuss political, economic and strategic issues.

Admiral Prof. Colombage briefed the leaders of partner think tanks the programs Pathfinder is developing for the second part of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.

He further emphasized the need to embark on joint research on matters of mutual interest and invited Indian scholars to visit Sri Lanka to undertake joint studies. Some of the areas identified for future cooperation were greenfield projects and digital data, security studies in the Indian Ocean with regard to economics and military issues, blue economy and maintaining ocean health, enhancing people-to-people connectivity through religion.