Sri Lanka open to all navies A final settlement with the Tamils and the Northern population of the country would be reached within the next few months, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said at the first ever graduation ceremony of the National Defence College in Colombo on Wednesday night.The President added that he was currently having discussions with the Tamil MPs to achieve that goal.Wickremesinghe also said Sri Lanka was open to the navies of all countries.

“If navies want to come, we have no problem. They helped in the anti-piracy operations. But we don’t want a level of rivalry which will affect the security and the peace of our area. Whatever it be that we will not join any big power or take sides, we will stay out of it. And that’s why we want to ensure that the big powers and the rivalry don”t need to certainly lead to conflict in the Indian Ocean. That’s one thing we can’t afford.”

President Wickremesinghe also noted that the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean had made Sri Lanka the “punching bag.” He said there were around 17 ports operated by the Chinese in the Indian Ocean and all of them were commercial ports. He stressed that Hambantota Port was also a commercial one.

The President said in the port of Darwin, Australia the Chinese ports are operating side by side with a port that Australian and the US forces used for training. “We don’t have that. We don’t allow anyone to come and train here, but we do have our southern command of the navy. We have a divisional headquarters of the army and we have a detachment of the Air Force. But none of them are involved. They only ensure that this is a commercial port and no less.”

Emphasising that Hambantota was a commercial port, and a reflection of Sri Lanka’s strategic importance, Wickremesinghe said many people had come to absurd conclusions. The President said he hoped that the next agreement Sri Lanka has with China would not cause such speculation and it was only about debt reduction for Sri Lanka. He added that the Indian Ocean region should be opened to all to ensure freedom of navigation for commercial viability, Wickremesinghe added that Sri Lanka would not join any military alliances and did not want the problems of the Pacific coming into the Indian Ocean. He urged the countries in the Indian Ocean region to come together to maintain stability of the region.

“It is important for commerce to carry on. We have to remember that bulk of the petroleum supply and energy supply to the world goes through the Indian Ocean. A large amount of shipping goes through the Indian Ocean. We don’t want this to be an area of conflict and an area of war.”

President Wickremesinghe highlighted the importance of safeguarding the security of India and other neighbouring countries. “When it comes to the security of Sri Lanka, we are of the view that in looking after the security of Sri Lanka, we must also ensure that nothing adverse happens to the security of India. That we have been committed to, and we will go ahead with it. There will be no movement out of it. That’s why we work with India on the Colombo conclave, on the trilateral security arrangements and many other fields, especially outside the military field of piracy, of human trafficking, of drugs. All those are useful ways in which we cooperate with India and the other island states. Then we also value our friendship with Maldives, those small islands, and we know how important the Maldives is.”

The President also said that Sri Lanka should not allow any other country to use it to attack third parties.