The Regional Centre for Maritime Studies (RCMS), in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka, hosted a conference focused on the ‘EU Indo-Pacific Strategy and Maritime Safety and Security’.
A key highlight of the event was the keynote address delivered by His Excellency Rados?aw Sikorski, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and the President of the Council of the European Union. In his address, H.E. Sikorski emphasised the EU’s commitment to a secure, open, and rules-based maritime domain in the Indo-Pacific.
The conference featured notable presentations from maritime security experts:
- Admiral Piyal de Silva (Retd), Special Advisor for South Asia - the EU-funded CRIMARIO II Project, elaborated on the project’s contribution to enhancing Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) in the Indo-Pacific through platforms such as IORIS.
- Ms. Victoria Dussardier, Project Manager of the Global Port Safety (GPS) Project, shared insights into the project’s mission to strengthen risk management and disaster response capabilities at major Asian ports, including Colombo.
Following the conference, H.E. Sikorski and the EU delegation visited the RCMS training facility, where they observed the ongoing regional training course titled ‘Port Safety – Dangerous Goods Law Enforcement’. This training, conducted under the GPS Project, brought together participants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and was facilitated by Polish and Czech maritime safety experts.
The event reaffirmed the strong and growing maritime cooperation between the EU and Sri Lanka, particularly in the areas of maritime safety, maritime security and environmental protection.
