Defence Asia

  Defence Advisors of the Maldivian and Indian High Commissions, meet with Secretary of Defence, General (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne, Foreign Secretary Admiral (Retd) Jayanath Colombage, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne and Senior Navy officers at the launch of the new secretariat. (Pic - SLN) Trilateral Secretariat on Maritime Security Cooperation established at Sri Lanka Navy HQ  By Asiri Fernando  A secretariat for trilateral national security advisors (NSA) was launched at the Navy Headquarters yesterday (01 March) to act as a platform to improve Maritime Security Cooperation between the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka.  The need to establish a secretariat for the task was agreed upon during the fourth NSA level meeting between the three countries, hosted by Sri Lanka in November last year. According to the Navy, Director Naval Operations Rear Admiral Prasanna Mahawithana has been appointed as the coordinating officer of the new secretariat....

Maldivian National Defence Forces and US Marines during Exercise Coconut Grove 2012. Pic by - Cpl. Isis M. Ramirez (USMC)       By Asiri Fernando The United States and Maldives earlier this month (10 September) signed an agreement to deepen engagement and cooperation on defence and security. The agreement came one day after two US allies, India and Japan signed an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA). Both agreements also came in the backdrop of US Secretary of Defence Dr. Mark T. Esper speaking to the President of Sri Lanka and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on security, defence and COVID-19 related matters. The renewed emphasis on defence cooperation and improving security relationships in the region comes as Quadrilateral Security Dialog - "The Quad", composed of the US, Japan, India and Australia are deepening their security cooperation, according to the US think tank RAND. The US - Maldivian agreement termed "Framework for U.S. Department of Defe...