Top experts share insights at LKI’s Foreign Policy Conference
View(s):Politicians, policy makers, scholars from universities and think tanks, media, representatives from the private sector and civil society, and students converged in Colombo at the recently-held dialogue on “Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy: Choices in a Changing World.”
The two-day event was organised and held at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI), the institute said in a media release.
The event began with a seminar on ‘Emerging Issues in the Indian Ocean’, supported by Hemas Holdings PLC, which presented the regional context of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy. Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of LKI, delivered the opening address, presenting his vision for the future of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy.
The conference featured experts from Sri Lanka and overseas, including Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, former Under-Secretary General of the UN; Prof. Kanishka Jayasuriya from Murdoch University; Admiral Jayanath Colombage, former Navy Commander and now an academic; Prof. Lailufar Yasmin from the University of Dhaka; Dr. Naazima Kamardeen of the University of Colombo; Prof. Natalie Klein from the Macquarie University; Dr. Harsha Cabral, P.C., Member of the International Court of Arbitration; M. M. Jaffeer, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Daneshan Casie Chetty, former Ambassador; A.L.A. Azeez, Senior Director-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Nishan de Mel from Verite Research; Dr. Kadira Pethiyagoda, Former Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre; Dr. Sithara Fernando from the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University; Prof. Antony Anghie from the University of Utah and National University of Singapore; Dr. Farzana Haniffa from the University of Colombo; Dr. Rohan Samarajiva from LIRNEasia; Dr. Ram Manikkalingam from the Dialogue Advisory Group; Ms. Dinesha de Silva from Asia Foundation; Deshal de Mel from Hayleys PLC; Ms. Namini Wijedasa from the Sunday Times; Daniel Alphonsus, former Media Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Lakshman Guruswamy from the University of Colorado, the release said.
Speaking at the seminar on ‘Emerging Issues in the Indian Ocean’, Mahdev Mohan, Assistant Professor at Singapore Management University and Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore, observed that Sri Lanka’s attempt to craft a dual identity as the centre of the Indian Ocean and a gateway to India would give it a competitive advantage – since it was a space that nobody had had the chance to exploit just yet.
Prof. Chin Leng Lim, Choh Ming-Li Professor-elect at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in his keynote on commercial diplomacy cautioned against seeing Singapore’s model of economic diplomacy as easily transposable to other states, and recommended that states like Sri Lanka could opt for the ‘Hong Kong solution’ in such circumstances – which was to distinguish itself from what’s around – as Hong Kong and Dubai have both done.
Presenting on a panel on ‘Emerging Security Issues’ Ms. Sashikala Premawardhane, Director General (Actg), Ocean Affairs, Strategic Security and Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that there appeared to be resistance towards the idea of one country strategically dominating the Indian Ocean, due to the region’s historically multipolar nature as well as the tendency of regional countries to avoid joining power blocs.
Commenting on Sri Lanka’s export performance, Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Chair-Elect of the Global Economy Programme at LKI stated that Sri Lanka’s performance had actually been bucking the regional trend of a slowdown in exports, and that the restructuring of the Chinese economy could create new economic opportunities for Sri Lanka.