Will ensure maritime security :
Focus will be on freedom of navigation:
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday emphasised that Sri Lanka would not support or be part of any military activity in the Indian Ocean and was committed instead to ensuring peace and maritime security in the region.
The Prime Minister in his second day of bilateral talks in Japan met Japanese government officials; Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Defence Minister Tomomi Inada and Finance Minister Taro Aso.
Over the past few days, tensions in the East China Sea has escalated over North Korea’s missile testing and Wickremesinghe’s statemens in this backdrop helped to quell any fears the Japanese might have over China’s intensions in the Indian Ocean.
The Foreign media yesterday reported that Japan’s Navy planned a joint drill with the US Navy’s Carl Vinson carrier strike group “as it steamed towards the Korean Peninsula in a display of military power aimed at deterring the North Korean regime from further missile tests”.
“Our focus will be on freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean and maritime security,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told Suga and added that he hoped to have a Conference of Indian Ocean countries where he believed they could come to a common understanding on peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.
Suga who also discussed sustainable development in Sri Lanka said they would appoint a Special Advisor to the Japanese Prime Minister, Dr Hiroto Izumi to coordinate sustainable development activities between the two countries.
Suga also said that they had received cabinet approval to hold the 2025 Expo exhibition in Osaka and hoped Sri Lanka would participate, Wickremesinghe replied in the affirmative.