A delegation from the Netherlands-based Clingendael Institute has visited the Pathfinder Foundation in Colombo for talks on Indian Ocean maritime security and Sri Lanka’s potential as a regional logistics hub.
The meeting was held at Pathfinder’s Riverpoint headquarters in Peliyagoda with the Foundation’s Founder, Milinda Moragoda, and was accompanied by the Chargé d’Affaires of the Netherlands Embassy in Sri Lanka, Iwan Rutjens, The Island reported. Discussions focused on developments in the Indian Ocean region — including maritime security, trade routes, logistics and regional connectivity — and on how the Netherlands’ experience as a major European logistics hub could inform Sri Lanka’s effort to build out its own position in South Asia.
The Clingendael Institute, based in The Hague, is one of the Netherlands’ leading think tanks on international relations, diplomacy and strategic affairs. The visiting delegation included Research Fellows Rosaline Lantink and Tobias Koster, alongside Senior Policy Advisor at the Netherlands Embassy in Colombo, Namal Perera. Pathfinder Foundation was represented by Executive Director Dr Daya Silva and Director Mohammad Jawad alongside Moragoda.
Opportunities for bilateral cooperation between Sri Lanka and the Netherlands in maritime security and logistics were also raised during the discussion.
The visit lands as Colombo navigates intensifying great-power interest in the Indian Ocean. Chinese envoy Qi Zhenhong earlier this month warned that the Indian Ocean is becoming a power battleground, while opposition MP Harsha de Silva criticised the government’s absence from the Indian Ocean Conference where regional security architecture was discussed. Sri Lanka’s hub ambitions sit alongside the India-Sri Lanka Trincomalee energy-hub framework and an emerging naval CBRN exercise track.
Source: The Island.
