Conference on ‘Iran and the Indian Ocean in the 21st Century’ in Colombo

Pathfinder Foundation (PF), in association with the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and in collaboration with the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations (SCFR) held a round-table conference on the theme ‘Iran and the Indian Ocean in the 21st Century’ on Thursday 15 February. 

Dr. Abdulreza Faraji Rad, Director General of the prestigious Iranian think-tank, participated at the round-table held in Colombo. He discussed Iran’s role in security and development in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Mohsen Eslami, Assistant Professor of the Department of International Relations, of the Tarbiat Modares University of Tehran elaborated on the nuclear deal, Iran signed with China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany in 2015 that ended sanctions against Iran. 

A fascinating story of Iran and Sri Lanka relations going back to over two millennia was unveiled by Luxman Siriwardena, Executive Director of the PF, while Admiral Dr. Jayanath Colombage, Director, Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives (CILI) of the Pathfinder Foundation discussed security issues relating to the Indian Ocean from the Sri Lankan perspective. Another facet of Iran-Sri Lanka relations in the modern era was highlighted by Dr. Mohamed Shareef Asees, visiting lecturer of the University of Colombo. Introductory remarks were made by Chairman, PF Bernard Goonetilleke and concluding remarks delivered by Lalith Weeratunga, Senior Fellow of PF. A lively discussion followed the presentations by the panellists including arrangements to promote tourism from Iran to Sri Lanka and vice versa. 

At a luncheon hosted by Milinda Moragoda Founder of the Pathfinder Foundation in honour of the visiting guests, Ambassador of Iran in Sri Lanka and other participants, both sides discussed how to expand future cooperation between PF and SCFR. 

The SCFR is a think tank and consultative body with a strategic approach in the field of foreign relations, established in 2006 on the directive of the Supreme Leader of Iran. Its main goals are to make macro decisions, opening new horizons in foreign relations, benefiting from the views of academia, formulate indicators to achieve the goals in foreign relations and communicate with like-minded institutions abroad. The SCFR is headed by Dr. Seyed Kamal Kharazi, former foreign minister of Iran from 1997 to 2005.  

Both Iran and Sri Lanka enjoyed close commercial relations in the recent past, with Colombo exporting its premium tea to Iran and the latter providing crude oil to Sri Lanka’s only refinery for the last several decades. These commercial relations were disrupted due to the sanctions against Iran on account of the dispute over the nuclear programme of the latter. With the signing of the nuclear agreement in 2015, those sanctions have been lifted, thereby facilitating expanded trade, investment and tourism relations between Colombo and Tehran. The round-table arranged by the Pathfinder Foundation was aimed at forging closer relations with Iran, which boasts of a population of over 80 million and fourth largest oil reserves in the world.

Representatives of local think-tanks, academic institutions, etc. participated in the round-table.