Sri Lanka willing to set up forum to secure Indian Ocean: PM Ranil Wickremesinghe

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today said his country was wiling to take the lead in forming a multilateral forum with UN support to ensure the maritime security of the Indian Ocean.

He was making the keynote address at Galle Dialogue the annual maritime security conference held in the southern port town of the island.

"The Indian ocean is in need of a mutually benefiting security architecture established on a multi lateral basis," Wickremesinghe said.

He said no country was capable of handling maritime security threats alone no matter how advanced and developed it may be.

The chief of the Indian Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan is a participant in the Galle Dialogue which focuses on maritime security cooperation.

"The focus of the Dialogue is cooperation on maritime security. India plays a crucial role in the region when it comes to maintaining security in the blue water," Navy sources said yesterday.

Dhowan arrived for the two-day conference being attended by 36 countries yesterday.