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‘Cooperation on fighting sea piracy to protect the environment’, figured during this week’s international maritime conference, “Galle Dialogue 2013”, organised by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence with representatives of some 35 countries in attendance.

L to r: Indian Navy’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral D.K. Joshi, SLN Commander, Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Pix by Indika Handuwala

The event saw the highest number of countries represented at the event, since the initiative was launched in 2010. Eighty-six foreign delegates from 35 countries and 90 local counterparts participated.

Indian Navy’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral D.K. Joshi, Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Guan Jianguo, Pakistan Navy’s Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations), Rear Admiral Kaleem Shaukat and, the of the Royal Australian Navy’s Australian Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Timothy Barrett were among the delegates.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa delivering the keynote address, said that, among the emerging trends in the Indian Ocean Region, that command our attention, is the piracy and armed robbery by Somali pirates, in a region that includes the Arabian Sea, the Gulfs of Aden and Oman, and the southern Red Sea.

“This piracy has effectively put the entire shipping community in the Indian Ocean Region under siege,” he said.
“The range of the pirates began to increase significantly, with the use of mother ships transporting small skiffs to attack and capture commercial and fishing vessels. Ransoms paid for the release of such ships and their crew increased over time, as did the physical dangers posed by the pirates, which led to considerable pressure on the international shipping industry,” he said.
He said the incidence of piracy continued to increase between 2008 and 2011, until declining somewhat in the last two years. One of the primary reasons for this recent decline has been the increasing presence of armed private security teams onboard merchant vessels.

A member of the Pakistan delegation in coversation with Gotabaya Rajapaksa

“Human smuggling in the Indian Ocean is another major illicit activity that warrants increased international attention. Primarily due to economic reasons, but sometimes also due to conflicts, large numbers of people from developing countries seek to migrate illegally to affluent countries such as Australia, Canada and European nations, as well as the Gulf States,” he said.

SLN Commander, Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage said the Galle Dialogue has sailed smoothly for the fourth consecutive year making its scope wider. “We take credit for maintaining peace in our region. Even during the conflict, we did not allow the terrorists to hold world shipping to ransom, like what is happening in the Gulf of Aden. We acted very responsibly, and kept our ports safe for maritime trade,” he said.

Indian Navy Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi noted that the Asia-Pacific region is networked by some of the busiest sea lanes of the world.  “Maritime trade is the backbone of international commerce. A majority of the world’s top 10 economies are either located here or have strong interests in the region. The maritime trade which traverses through the sea lanes or passes through the many choke points of Asia-Pacific is vital for the economic sustenance of virtually the entire globe,” he said.
“Apart from piracy, the Asia-Pacific is also prone to other asymmetric challenges such as drug trafficking, illegal arms trade, human trafficking and most importantly, maritime terrorism. All these have significant ramifications on regional security,” he added.

People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Guan Jianguo said China advocates the policy of ‘mutual trust’, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation, among which, he said mutual trust takes first place.
“Mutual trust makes cooperation and cooperation makes security. Without mutual trust and confidence, there will be only miscalculation, misunderstanding and disputes of interest, and thereby, cannot achieve maritime cooperation and mutual benefits,” he said.

Pakistan Navy’s Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Kaleem Shaukat noted that an important adjunct to maritime terrorism is drugs and arms trafficking.

“With huge profit margins, drug trafficking is by far the most lucrative means of making quick money, which may be used to finance terrorist networks and arms trafficking. The unabated production of drugs and narcotics in Afghanistan, makes it imperative for the international community to deny its trafficking to the outside world,” he said.

Royal Australian Navy’s Australian Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Timothy Barrett said, “Australia’s approach to the illegal movement of people, to people smuggling, is what we would describe as a whole-of-government approach. This takes as its basic premise, that we cannot only achieve our maximum effectiveness through the coordinated application of appropriate skills, powers and capabilities which are resident in different agencies of government.

“It is very similar to the joint military constructs with which we are all familiar, but applied across all arms and layers of government, not just the military,” he said.

Maldives National Defence Force Coastguard Commandant Brig Gen. Ahmed Shahid said, “More than 80 per cent of the inhabited islands, roughly 155 out of the 194, in the Maldives, have a mean sea level of nearly 1 meter or less. Built up areas of many of these islands are less than 100 feet from shore, thus further compounding the problem. A global sea level rise of as little as 10 cm would have a devastating effect on the lives of thousand of peoples across the Maldives.”