Commander of the Navy Participates in the ReCAAP 2016 Summit in Singapore

The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) commemorated the 10th Anniversary in Singapore on the 18th March 2016 with the participation of delegations from twenty countries. The Sri Lankan delegation was led by Hon. Ruwan Wijewardene MP, the State Minister of Defence. The delegation included the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne, senior naval officers, and officials from the Ministry of Defence. The ReCAAP remains as the first regional government-to-government agreement to promote and enhance cooperation against piracy and armed robbery in Asia. It was finalized on 11 November 2004 and entered into force on 4 September 2006. To date, 20 States have become Contracting Parties to ReCAAP.

The twenty Contracting Parties to ReCAAP are Australia, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the Kingdom of Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ReCAAP ISC) was established under the Agreement, and was officially launched in Singapore on 29 November 2006. It was formally recognized as an international organization on 30 January 2007. At the 10th Governing Council Meeting of the ReCAAP ISC which was held from 15-17 March 2016 in Singapore hosted by the Singapore Government, Governors from the ReCAAP countries commended the ReCAAP ISC on achieving further milestones in research and analysis, capacity building, engagement and co-operation with other organizations with interests in combating piracy and armed robbery against ships.