SL being IORA Chair committed to fostering unity among member states, allies – State Minister
The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute (LKI), in collaboration with the Japanese Embassy and the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka hosted a panel discussion titled, ‘Enhancing Disaster Risk Management and the Climate Response: Collaborative Efforts by Japan and Australia in Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member Countries’ recently.
Delivering the keynote address, Foreign Affairs State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya, while commending the LKI’s support to Sri Lanka’s IORA presidency and for collaborating with Japan and Australia to broaden the scope of multilateral cooperation, reiterated the need for nations within this region to equip themselves to adapt, prevent, and mitigate both natural and manmade disasters. Noting that the Indian Ocean was a vital conduit for global maritime trade and vulnerable to a myriad of maritime disasters both natural and man-made, he said its effects are equally felt by Sri Lanka. In this regard, he thanked the Japan and Australia Governments for their continued assistance in strengthening regional disaster preparedness regimes and maritime security.
The State Minister reiterated that as the current Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, Sri Lanka remains committed to fostering partnerships and unity among member states and international allies, working collectively to bolster resilience and security in the region.
LKI’s Executive Director, former Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha outlined the activities undertaken by the institute in support of Sri Lanka’s IORA Presidency – through provision of substantive inputs, policy briefs on concerned issue areas, and collaborative events held with Japan and the EU.
He emphasized the importance of Japan – a dialogue partner, and Australia – a member of IORA, collaborating with LKI in hosting this event to share their specific experience in supporting member countries. He called for greater tangible support towards IORA, particularly by Dialogue Partners, and said as with many other successful regional organisations, through collaborating on such functional issue areas, IORA too in future could also cooperate on more complex issues of significance to the region and the global community.
Japan Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mizukoshi Hideaki, noted that following the adoption of the Sendai Framework Japan had taken an active role in spearheading IORA’s Disaster risk preparedness efforts, and reiterated the importance of drawing in the correlation between climate change and the increase in the number and severity of natural disasters. He said Japan has provided advanced technologies such as earthquake and tsunami observation instruments and early warning systems to IORA members like Malaysia and Indonesia, design and construction of flood-resilient buildings and infrastructure in countries like Thailand, and in the case of Sri Lanka steps are being taken to establish a meteorological doppler radar system that is designed to enhance pre-disaster preparedness for natural disasters. He appreciated the continuing collaboration with the LKI in helping to strengthen Japan’s relations with Sri Lanka and the region.
The panel discussion was attended by Ambassadors and diplomats representing IORA member states and dialogue partners, representatives of International Organisations, senior officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and other relevant Ministries and agencies, policy practitioners, civil society activists and university students.
The discussion was moderated by Research Fellow (Global Governance) of the LKI Nilupul Gunawardena, and joined by four specialists in the field, Ruhuna University’s Oceanography and Marine Geology Department Prof. Terney Pradeep Kumara, First Secretary (Political and Economic) at Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka Dr. Paul Zeccola, Research Economist at Institute of Policy Studies Dr. Pulasthi Amarasinghe, and Chief Representative at Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Sri Lanka Yamada Tetsuya.
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