Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane yesterday (10) reiterated Sri Lanka’s commitment to continue to work closely with all Member States of IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) and other partners including the Dialogue Partners for achieving the objectives of IORA.

Wijewardane noted that the theme, ‘Strengthening Regional Architecture: Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity’ chosen by Sri Lanka for its chairmanship reflects the country’s deep understanding of the pivotal role that the Indian Ocean plays in shaping the region’s identity and destiny. It 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 from time immemorial.

She said so at a meeting of Senior Officials in Colombo. Officials of the IORA Member States gathered in Colombo for the 25th Meeting of the IORA Committee of Senior Officials. The two-day meeting from 9-10 October 2023 was chaired by Foreign Secretary Wijewardane.

Senior level participants from the twenty-three (23) IORA Member States of Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen attended the meeting. There was an Interactive Dialogue between Senior Officials of the Member States and Dialogue Partners of China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Türkiye, United Kingdom and United States of America on the second day of the meeting to review the future plans with IORA.

In her opening remarks, Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane welcomed the delegates representing the membership of the IORA family and its Dialogue Partners and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the newest Dialogue Partner of IORA. She thanked Bangladesh for its leadership of the Association for the past two years and congratulated India for assuming the role as the Vice Chair of the Association. Foreign Secretary Wijewardane appreciated the commitment of all Member States to make IORA a vibrant organization and efforts made by them for strengthening the IORA as a platform to address issues of common importance. Noting that Sri Lanka was assuming leadership of IORA after two decades, having previously held the Chairmanship from 2003 to 2004, she emphasised that Sri Lanka accords a great deal of importance to the Indian Ocean.

IORA Secretary General Dr Salman Al Farisi, Joint Secretary (Oceania) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India Paramita Tripathi representing the Vice Chair of IORA, Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Rear Admiral (retd.) Md. Khurshed Alam representing the IORA Past Chair also delivered remarks at the opening session of the Senior Officials’ Committee Meeting.

The senior officials made recommendations including regarding the adoption of the Colombo Communiqué, which is the outcome document, to the 23rd Council of Ministers of IORA which will meet today (11) in Colombo.