Colombo conclave to have permanent secretariat
New Delhi, August 30
The Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) will now have a permanent secretariat, giving the body a sort of permanence. A charter and a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the CSC secretariat was signed in Colombo today. Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Mauritius are member states of the CSC.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval represented India, while NSAs of other three countries were also present.
A statement of the Ministry of External Affairs said the core objective of the conclave was to promote regional security by addressing transnational threats and challenges of common concern to the member states. It listed five pillars of cooperation under the CSC - maritime safety and security; countering terrorism and radicalisation; combating trafficking and transnational organised crime; cyber security and protection of critical infrastructure and technology; and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Earlier yesterday, Doval met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. A statement of the Sri Lankan PM office quoted Doval saying “there is immense potential for India and Sri Lanka to further strengthen economic cooperation and it is for mutual benefit considering the aspect of complementarity in bilateral ties”.
Doval said India wanted to further expand cooperation with Sri Lanka and sought the Prime Minister’s views on priority requirements.
The Sri Lankan side thanked India for supporting large-scale and small-scale alternative energy projects.
Doval said in the long run, Sri Lanka could generate more power than its domestic requirement and sell excess power to India and get huge financial benefits. He pointed out that Bhutan was selling a huge amount of hydropower to India and it was the largest revenue of that country. The NSA was accompanied by High Commissioner Santosh Jha.
