A high lever Sri Lankan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama will attend the 15th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Singapore from 23 to 24 July 2008. He will be accompanied by Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and senior officials from the Foreign Ministry.

Sri Lanka was admitted to the ASEAN Regional Forum as its 27th member during the 14th ARF held in Manila in August 2007. The ARF is the highest level forum in the Asia-Pacific region which deliberates on the full gamut of issues concerning defence cooperation and security, including terrorism, money laundering, illicit trafficking of narcotics and weapons and human smuggling, as well as cooperation between armed forces of Member States. On that occasion, Foreign Minister Bogollagama who represented Sri Lanka underscored the importance of ARF for greater security and defence cooperation, among countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It may be noted that ARF has embarked on a strategic partnership with countries within the Asia-Pacific region as well as those in Europe for developing networks and linkages on security and defence co-operation.

Sri Lanka’s admission to ARF has been particularly significant given Sri Lanka’s own security concerns and regional security ramifications in the Indian Ocean, arising from the threat posed by the LTTE. Sri Lanka’s participation in ARF in Singapore will strengthen its capacity and effectiveness to deal with terrorism, at a time when this global menace has become the primary focus of the ARF.

In Singapore, Minister Bogollagama is expected to have bilateral meetings with Foreign Ministers from a number of participating countries, which would result in greater dialogue and cooperation in dealing with all issues with regard to security, counter terrorism, intelligence sharing and defence cooperation and other areas of mutual interest.