The members of Colombo Security Conclave include India, Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka, while Bangladesh and Seychelles are the two observer nations.
The sixth Deputy National Advisers’ meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave held in Kochi on Thursday resolved to jointly combat the increasing threats related to maritime safety, terrorism, trafficking and organised crime affecting the partner nations.
A roadmap for cooperation was discussed at the meeting attended by the members that include India, Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka. The representatives of Bangladesh and Seychelles — the two observer nations in the conclave — also shared their views on the occasion.
Suggesting the formulation of flexible prosecution laws among the member countries, General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff, Sri Lanka recommended setting up joint working groups and agencies to collect, store and disseminate intelligence on common developments as an effective way to tackle the various threats.
“We commonly suffer from terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation of social groups. In this increasingly connected world, the tendency of cooperation between radical groups in regional countries has been a common phenomenon. Trafficking and organised crimes have been a substantial security threat. Among these crimes, proliferation of small arms, trafficking of drugs, international crime are some of the common threats pertaining to the security of our nations,” he said.
Ahmed Latheef, Foreign Secretary of Maldives, said that the security outlook of the partnering nations needs to remain dynamic as the common threats continue to evolve in unprecedented ways.
Here is the common press release:
