Webinar on Indo-Sri Lankan relations and BIMSTEC: New focus on UDA framework

Thursday, 24 March 2022 03:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Maritime Research Centre (MRC), Pune and M/S NirDhwani Technology Ltd. (NDT), in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Studies Bangalore (ICSB) and the Pathfinder Foundation, will host a webinar titled ‘India and the BIMSTEC: A new perspective based on the Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) framework’ on 25 March at 1600 hrs.

The event is planned to bring together the industry, maritime strategists, policymakers, and others to reach out and build policy priorities for the UDA framework at the regional level. The interaction is expected to strengthen the Indo-Sri Lankan partnership and encourage joint acoustic capacity and capability building at the regional level.

The broad strategic relevance of this high-level dialogue entails that the participants get exposed to policy issues, technological means, innovative tools and measures, geopolitics, organisational aspects both nationally and globally, regional and global frameworks, and more. While having security overtones, the webinar has included representatives of the private sector and technology to give it a clear perspective on the subject.

The webinar on 25 March is being held ahead of the BIMSTEC Heads of State Summit (31 March) in Colombo. In consideration of Sri Lanka’s importance to the UDA/MDA, this webinar is expected to be the first of many similar activities on the subject planned for the future.

Maritime Research Foundation (MRC), based in Pune (India), headed by Dr. (Cdr.) Arnab Das is a “not for profit think-tank” specialising in Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), particularly Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA). MRC has made strong strides in this field since its establishment five years ago. Institute of Contemporary Studies Bangalore (ICSB) is also a “not for profit think tank” based in Bangalore and specialises in national security-related subjects.

Interested persons could register for the webinar using the following link: https://mrc.foundationforuda.in/25-03-22/.