The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) hosted Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev for a special guest lecture on “15 Years of Dialogue: Sri Lanka–SCO Partnership and the Way Forward” at its Lighthouse Auditorium, The Island reported.
Yermekbayev traced the evolution of Sri Lanka’s engagement with the SCO over the past 15 years and underscored the bloc’s growing role in regional and multilateral cooperation. The discussion covered the SCO’s history and institutional mechanisms and its core pillars — regional security cooperation, economic collaboration, socio-humanitarian engagement and external partnerships — alongside broader themes of connectivity and multilateral dialogue.
The event was organised jointly by LKIIRSS and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism. LKIIRSS Executive Director Dr Nishara Mendis and Director General of the Ministry’s East Asia Division, Savitri Panabokke, hosted Yermekbayev and members of the SCO delegation. Attendees included diplomats, heads of mission, senior government officials, think-tank representatives, academics, researchers and university students.
Sri Lanka holds dialogue partner status with the SCO, founded in Shanghai in 2001 and now grouping China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and several Central Asian states. The Colombo lecture comes after Yermekbayev met Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath earlier this month, when Sri Lanka pitched Port City and Free Trade Zone opportunities and asked for the Secretary-General’s support in promoting the country as a tourism and investment hub. Colombo’s outreach to the SCO sits alongside its parallel diplomatic engagement with Russia, Belarus and the wider Indian Ocean security agenda.
Source: The Island.
