Ajit Doval to attend key maritime meet in Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: NSA Ajit Doval will visit Colombo Friday to participate in the 4th Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation meeting being hosted by Sri Lanka. This is the first time that the trilateral mechanism at the NSA level, involving India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, is being held in six years.
Earlier meetings were held in 2011 in Maldives, in 2013 in Sri Lanka, and early 2014 in India under the UPA government.“The NSA-level Trilateral Meeting has served as an effective platform for cooperation among Indian Ocean countries. Mauritius and Seychelles attended the third meeting as guest countries,” said the government in a statement.
The mechanism seeks to promote joint activities, including trilateral exercises, maintaining lines of communication on illegal maritime activities, formulation of marine oil pollution response contingency plans and cooperation in legal and policy issues related to piracy. It also focuses on training and capacity building initiatives in areas of maritime domain awareness, search and rescue, and oil pollution response.
Apart from Sri Lanka defence secretary Kamal Gunaratne and NSA Ajit Doval from India, Maldives defence minister Mariya Didi will also participate in the meeting.