Indian and Sri Lankan Coast Guards conduct 7th high-level meet, to combat transnational maritime crime

The 7th Annual High-Level Meeting (HLM) between the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG) was conducted on Monday, 11th November, at Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The meeting is aimed at enhancing the collaborative efforts to combat transnational maritime crime and promote regional cooperation. The annual meeting is as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between both maritime agencies in May 2018.

The four member ICG delegation is led by Director General S. Paramesh, Chief of the Indian Coast Guard, while the SLCG side is led by Rear Admiral YR Serasinghe, Director General, Sri Lanka Coast Guard.

The meeting underscores the commitment of both the Coast Guards to jointly address a plethora of maritime challenges, including drug trafficking, marine pollution, safety of mariners, adoption of best practices, capacity-building programmes and other collaborative arrangements.

The outcome of the meeting reiterates enhancing cooperation in addressing these challenges, thereby strengthening the maritime safety and security framework in the region. The 8th annual ICG-SLCG meeting will be hosted by Indian Coast Guard in the year 2025.

The meeting between the Coast Guard leadership comes barely a week after the 34th India and Sri Lanka Navy & Coast Guard International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting, co-chaired by Rear Admiral Ravi Kumar Dhingra, Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (FOTNA) & Rear Admiral SJ Kumara, Commander North Central Naval Area, Sri Lanka Navy. This meeting was held onboard the Sri Lankan Naval Ship SLNS Vijayabahu in Palk Bay on 6th November 2024.

Representatives from both the sides held discussions with special focus on maritime security in Palk Bay & Gulf of Mannar, safety of fishermen, and ways to enhance fishermen’s response to real-time communications.

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It is notable that the fishermen issue remains a sore point in India-Sri Lanka ties, with fishers from each side crossing over into the other's waters. This is a longstanding and complex problem that involves fishing rights and territory in the narrow Palk Strait, the water body that separates the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Northern part of the island nation Sri Lanka.

On Sunday, the Sri Lankan Navy arrested 23 Indian fishermen from Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, and detained their three trawlers for illegally fishing in Sri Lankan waters. More than 120 Indian fishermen and 190 boats remain in Sri Lankan custody. Notably, while campaigning for the upcoming Parliamentary polls, Lankan President AK Dissanayake vowed to protect the rights and marine resources of Northern Sri Lankan fishermen, most of whom belong to the minority Sri Lankan Tamil Community.

Speaking at the political event in Jaffna, the President accused Indian fishermen of destroying the marine resources that belonged to the Tamil-populated Northern region of Sri Lanka.