4th NSA level Trilateral meeting among India, Sri Lanka & Maldives – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

A GAP OF SIX YEARS

• 2011 Meeting held in the Maldives, 2013 in Sri Lanka, 2014 in India. The last meeting held in March 2014, which was hosted by then NSA Shivshankar Menon. After a gap of six years, the trilateral maritime security dialogue will be revived, with a meeting of the top security leadership of India, Maldives and Sri Lanka in Colombo on Friday.

WHY NO MEETING SINCE 2014?

Relations between Male and New Delhi had gone through a rough patch under the Abdulla Yameen administration.

Nazim, who had attended the last trilateral meeting as Maldives’ defence minister, was arrested and put behind bars on anti-terrorism law.

“The meeting will provide an opportunity for discussion on issues pertaining to cooperation in maritime security in the Indian Ocean region,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

TRILATERAL MAY ALSO BE EXPANDED

With plans to expand the footprint of the trilateral forum, Mauritius and Seychelles had been invited to the 2014 meeting as observers, with plans to induct them as full participants eventually. This time, Mauritius, Seychelles and Bangladesh will also take part as observers, but due to the travel restrictions, they will only attend the meeting, virtually.

The meeting was attended by

1. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval
2. Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne
3. Maldives’ Defence Minister Mariya Didi. Senior officials from Seychelles and Mauritius also participated virtually.

WHAT WAS ON THE TABLE?

During the course of the meeting, various issues of mutual concern were discussed between the officials, including ways of enhancing maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean.

The 3 countries also discussed mutual cooperation in areas such as humanitarian assistance in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), defence relief, joint naval exercises, capacity building, marine pollution, underwater heritage among other things.

The three countries discussed common security threats and also agreed to improve intelligence sharing and include issues such as terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, the effect of climate change on the marine environment.

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