Pathfinder and Vivekananda Intl Foundation conduct webinar on Maritime Security

The Pathfinder Foundation (PF) and Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) India jointly organized a webinar on Maritime Security, bringing together experts on the subject.

 Chairman Pathfinder Foundation, Bernard Goonetilleke and Director VIF Dr Arvind Gupta delivered welcome remarks on behalf of the two organizations. During the first session,  Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, former Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka, spoke on the “Emerging Power Rivalry in the Indian Ocean: Choices for States in the Region”. At the same time, Ambassador Ashok Kantha presented the Indian perspective on maritime security. Speakers at session two were Rear Admiral Dimuthu Gunawardena, Acting Director General, Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), Sri Lanka, who spoke on “Maritime Security: Need for Developing a National Policy Framework for Sri Lanka” and Vice Admiral Satish Soni from India, former Commandant of the National Defence Academy and Commander-in-Chief of Southern Command and Eastern Command.

One of the important outcomes of the event was the desirability for regular dialogues, thereby building mutual trust that will benefit India, Sri Lanka, and the South Asian region at large. A broad range of other issues, such as human rights, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and other aspects of Indi-Lanka relations, with suggestions for further improvement, were also taken up for discussion.One of the significant outcomes of the webinar was an agreement reached to focus on other areas of Indo-Lanka relations in a series of webinars in the future.