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After MFA blunder, presidential nod comes too late; UN vessel diverted to Madagascar
View(s):Bureaucratic bungling and political tardiness led to the cancellation of the deployment of a research vessel into Sri Lankan waters under the UN flag, thereby denying the country valuable insights into its marine ecosystem and an assessment of long-term food security from the sea.
The research vessel, “Dr Fridtj of Nansen, the deployment of which was coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), was to deploy in Sri Lanka’s waters from July 15 to August 20, but a delay in granting permission has led to the cancellation of the visit. This ship will instead deploy in Madagascar, which “responded quickly and replaced Sri Lanka”, UN sources in Colombo said.
The Ministry of Fisheries, the lead ministry, had requested the visit in 2023.
“Our communication has always been with the Ministry of Fisheries, which took care of all necessary clearance. They took back the clearance after receiving communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),” a UN source said.
The MFA maintained that permission for foreign research vessels entering Sri Lanka’s territorial waters would not be given until the Government finalised a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), for the purpose of which a committee headed by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath had been set up.
However, the President had overruled the MFA decision after discussing the matter with the National Security Council, and the UN office had been informed that clearance was being granted by the Ministry of Fisheries, but it was too late by then.
On June 12, the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting it to consider allowing the visit to proceed on the basis of the formal request from the Government with an assurance that the Resident Coordinator remains available for a meeting at the earliest convenience to discuss the way forward and provide any additional information required.
A verbal confirmation for the vessel to deploy was conveyed last Monday, June 23, after the President’s intervention, more than ten days after the UN wrote to the MFA.
Such research vessels visit Sri Lanka every 6-10 years, with the last visit in 2018.
Meanwhile, the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Colombo said in its letter to the MFA that the cancellation of the visit would not only incur direct losses of over $1 million to Sri Lanka through the FAO but also reduce the efficacy of upcoming programming financed by the Green Climate Fund, which would heavily rely on the data generated by the F. Nansen.
If the current visit should be cancelled, another would not be feasible until after 2030. Moreover, cancelling the visit would deprive the country of critical data essential to the Government’s decision-making, damaging the prospects for economic development in a key sector of the economy.
The letter added that F. Nansen’s visit to Sri Lanka is organised through a partnership between the FAO and the national government, sailing under the United Nations flag. Sri Lankan fisheries experts and scientists from the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency, as well as officers from the Sri Lankan Navy, will be closely working with the F. Nansen technical team in implementing activities in full adherence with all pertinent national legislation.
“All data collected will be published only with the Government’s prior clearance. This is the fifth visit of such a vessel, the last one visiting Sri Lanka in 2018. In this context, the FAO received a letter dated 19 May 2025 from the Ministry of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources cancelling F. Nansen’s visit pending the development of standard operating procedures for foreign research vessels,” the UN office said.
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