Sri Lanka participated in the International Conference on Shanghai Cooperation Organization, “Reconnect-Rejuvenate” held in New Delhi on 23-24 March 2023.
The two-day conference, organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs in collaboration with the External Affairs Ministry of India, was a part of the series of events conducted by India under its presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The Conference brought together a number of practitioners, academics and think tanks of the SCO Members, Observers and Dialogue Partners, and the deliberations covered a wide spectrum of areas including economic cooperation, security, connectivity, culture, heritage and people-to-people contacts within the SCO.
Speaking as a panel list on the thematic area of “Reconnect, Synchronise, Grow: Quest for Enhanced Connectivity”, Additional Secretary/ Bilateral East of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka Yasoja Gunasekera highlighted the importance of maritime connectivity as a catalyst for shared growth and prosperity for both land-locked countries and littoral states of the SCO. Emphasizing Sri Lanka’s locational advantage in the Indian Ocean, Additional Secretary Gunasekera stated that Sri Lanka aspires to be a leading maritime and logistical hub in the Indian Ocean region, and to develop a green economy.
Towards this objective, she pointed out that connecting Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port with the SCO maritime axis of India’s Mumbai Port and Iran’s Chabahar Port could benefit the SCO membership. Highlighting the proposed offshore financial centre in the Colombo Port City, she invited companies of the SCO region to consider setting up manufacturing and processing facilities in Sri Lanka.
SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001. The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey). Sri Lanka became a Dialogue Partner of SCO in 2009.
High Commission of Sri Lanka
New Delhi
28 March 2023
