Foreign Minister Ali Sabry attended the 60th edition of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) held in Munich, Germany from 16 – 18 February 2024. The discussions at the Conference were based on a comprehensive concept of security that includes economic, environmental, and human dimensions in addition to traditional security issues.
Minister Sabry participated in two panel discussions at the Conference under the themes, “Shoring up Defences: Security in the Indo-Pacific”and “Protecting Global Commons”. In the discussion on ‘Shoring up Defences: Security in the Indo-Pacific’, the Minister stated that keeping channels of communications open, implementing confidence building measures and continuous dialogue on all relevant issues would be among practical methods to avoid conflict and ensure stability and peace in the region. The other panellists were Co-Chairman, Social Democratic Party of Germany Lars Klingbeil; Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Senator Ben Cardin; and Founding Chair, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China and Member of the MSC Advisory Council Fu Ying.
The Minister participating in the panel discussion on “Protecting global commons” shared Sri Lanka's commitments including the COP28 and at regional and local levels to protect the global commons. He also made the case that climate change should not be evaluated solely based on cost and added that it's also about knowledge sharing and capacity building. In this context, he highlighted Sri Lanka’s proposal to establish a Climate Change University in Sri Lanka. Minister Sabry pointed out the disproportionate impact of climate change on the countries in the global south. The other panellists were co-chair of Alliance 90/The Greens party of Germany Ricarda Lang and Executive Director of Greenpeace Mads Flarup.
Foreign Minister Sabry also held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Conference. These included meetings with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Germany Tobias Lindner, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Dr. Filip Ivanović, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal João Gomes Cravinho, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Luminița Odobescu. The Minister also met the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Chief Executive Officer Scott Nathan for a discussion to explore expansion of U.S. development financing to Sri Lanka.
Foreign Minister Ali Sabry was accompanied by Ambassador to Germany Varuni Muthukumarana and Director General of the International Security Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kapila Fonseka.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo
19 February 2024
