ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has already started to build the capacity of Navy in handling foreign research vessels during a one-year moratorium, Foreign Ministry Ali Sabry said.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has temporarily halted foreign research ships after strong security concerns raised by neighbour India and the United States following the visit of two Chinese research vessels in 14 months.
Sabry said Sri Lanka has banned foreign ships for research purpose though they have use the island nation’s ports for replenishments and crew changes.
“What we basically say is not a ban, but a moratorium for a year that until we expand our capacity and build our capacity to understand what is necessary, for which we have appointed a committee. We will have a temporary pause for this particular year for all marine research activity,” he said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
“In the meantime, our navy is building its own capacity. That’s why we made a request to the Japanese to give us a beachcraft to monitor. Those authorities have agreed on that. \So that will give our navy the ability also to do their own research and then once they start working with collaboration with foreign countries.”
“They will act as equal partners to understand the gravity of it subject to that we only allow ports of call. Ports of call, we will continue to allow without a research component.”
Chinese Embassy in Colombo raised strong protest against the move to allow a German research vessel early in March following the island nation’s authorities turned down a Beijing request for a research vessel in February.
When the ban was announced, the government failed to specifically reveal its stance on requests for replenishment or crew change for foreign research vessels.
Sri Lanka is in the process of introducing a SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for handling foreign research vessels and to improve the capacity of relevant officials in handling foreign research ships.
Two Chinese research ships were allowed to dock in Sri Lanka ports within 14 months through November 2023 with one called for replenishment and the other for research.
Chinese research ship Shi Yan 6 arrived in Sri Lanka in October 2023 and docked in Colombo port, for what Beijing citing was for “geophysical scientific research” in collaboration with the island nation’s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
In August 2022, Chinese navy vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka for replenishment.
Both drew strong Indian protests citing security concerns in the Indian Ocean.
India uses the Colombo port as its main transshipment hub and accounts for around 70 percent of the total transshipment volume of the port. (Colombo/May 09/2024)