Pathfinder Foundation co-sponsors ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Dialogue’ in Tokyo, Japan

Saturday, 2 February 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The ‘Japan-Indo-Pacific Dialogue’ was held in Tokyo, Japan recently, and Pathfinder Foundation representative Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage presented his paper titled ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Initiative and Maritime Order’ at this forum.

The Admiral spoke about major strategic concerns specifically in the Indian Ocean and need for maritime good governance. He furthermore, spoke about collective capacity and capability building to maintain effective Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and importance of sharing information in the Indian Ocean.

Pathfinder Foundation together with the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR), Global Forum of Japan (GFJ), Meiji Institute of Global Affairs (MIGA) and Routledge Studies on Think Asia co-sponsored the ‘Japan-Indo-Pacific Dialogue’. This dialogue was titled as ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Initiative and Maritime Order’. A large number of scholars, retired military and diplomatic officials, foreign mission representatives based in Tokyo including Afghanistan, Australia, Japan, India, Nigeria, Russia and Sri Lanka, participated in this dialogue.

The Japan Forum on International Relations is a private, non-profit, independent, and non-partisan organisation dedicated to improved understanding of Japanese foreign policy and international relations. The Forum takes no institutional position on issues of foreign policy, though its members are encouraged not only to analyse but also to propose alternatives on matters of foreign policy.

The Free and Open Indo-Pacific Dialogue was centred around two main themes; ‘Towards Establishing Maritime Order in Asia’ and ‘Free and Open Indo Pacific Initiative’. Mayu Watanabe, the vice president of JFIR delivered the opening address and Prof. Taketo Zuzuki and Prof. Go Ito chaired the two key academic sessions.

Prof. Jayanath Colombage emphasised that whilst we discuss about maritime security it is necessary to focus on maritime governance too. Admiral Colombage stressed upon the need for developing a maritime security architecture for Indo-Pacific Oceans so as to maintain freedom of navigation and freedom of maritime commerce for common prosperity. Pathfinder Foundation has been playing a leading role in discussing maritime security and governance and law of the sea as applicable to the Indian Ocean Region.