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IORA winds up with the adoption of Colombo Communiqué and openings for bilateral discussions
View(s):The Indian Ocean Rim Association Meetings Conclude in Colombo this week with spin-off opportunities for bilateral discussions.
On Wednesday, October 11, the Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA) Council of Ministers came together in Colombo for their 23rd meeting.
At this meeting Sri Lanka took over the chairmanship of the IORA, an inter-governmental organisation aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development.
Ministers of IORA’s 23 member states and 11 dialogue partners attending the Colombo meeting on Wednesday with the focus being ocean peace and blue economy.
The Council of Ministers is the highest decision-making body of the IORA and the meeting was attended by senior level delegates from all 23 member states and 11 dialogue partners. They included the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, India, Mauritius, Malaysia and South Africa.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry, chaired the meeting. In his opening remarks he pledged Sri Lanka’s commitment to uphold the values of IORA. He mentioned that the presence of the high-level delegation in Sri Lanka was encouraging and highlighted the cooperation and support that friends in the region and beyond have given to Sri Lanka in its period of recovery.
Minister Sabry also emphasised peace in his speech referring to Sri Lanka’s role in the non-aligned movement and in the passage of the UN resolution that declared the Indian Ocean and its airspace a Zone of Peace.
The Council of Ministers discussed IORA’s priority areas: Maritime Safety and Security, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Fisheries Management, Disaster Risk Management, Tourism and Cultural Exchange, Academic, Science and Technology Cooperation, Blue Economy, and Women’s Economic Empowerment.
The Ministers also acknowledged with appreciation the offer of the Government of Sri Lanka to host a Leaders’ Summit of IORA in Colombo in 2024 to reflect on the Way Forward for the Indian Ocean Rim Association towards and beyond 2030.
Prior to the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the IORA Committee of Senior Officials met for their 25th meeting on Monday (09) and Tuesday (10) October. This year’s meeting was on the theme of ‘Strengthening Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity.’ In her opening remarks IORA chair, Aruni Wijewardane, stated that the theme serves as a reminder that, despite their differences, the IORA Member States are bound by the waters of the Indian Ocean, which have nurtured their societies, peoples, and economies for centuries.
The outcome of the two-day meeting was the Colombo Communiqué which was adopted by the Council of Ministers at their meeting on Wednesday.
The visiting Ministers also made a collective call on President Ranil Wickremesinghe and held bilateral discussions with Foreign Minister, Ali Sabry.
In his bilateral discussion with Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar emphasised that the visit to Sri Lanka was an expression of solidarity in line with India’s “Neighborhood First” policy. Minister Sabry conveyed gratitude to his Indian counterpart for the significant assistance extended by India to Sri Lanka in the past year, including USD 4 billion in credit lines and India’s announcement, as the first country to officially back Sri Lanka’s IMF-led debt restructuring programme by conveying financing assurances to the International Monetary Fund.
An MOU on Indian Grant Assistance for implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP) was signed in the presence of Mr. Wickremesinghe. The MOU focuses on socio-economic development, infrastructure in education, health, and community development sectors.
At the meeting Minister Jaishankar also handed over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to President Ranil Wickremesinghe to visit India at an early date to discuss how India could further facilitate Sri Lanka’s strong recovery.
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