Contemporary challenges faced by island states under spotlight at Galle Dialogue - 2025
Rear Admiral YN Jayarathna (Retd) served as the moderator of the final panel discussion of the Galle Dialogue International Maritime Conference 2025, held on 25 Sep 25. The session, themed ‘Contemporary Challenges for Small Island States Amidst a Changing World Order: Way Forward’, provided valuable insights into the pressing issues confronting small island nations.
In the session, Brigadier General Mohamed Saleem, Commandant Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Rohan Joseph Flag Officer Commanding Naval Fleet, Sri Lanka Navy, Dr. Asantha Senevirathna from Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) and Commander Carine Buzaud, Director of Studies Regional Centre for Maritime Studies, KDU led a fruitful discussion engaging with the audience.
Brigadier General Mohamed Saleem drew attention to the maritime challenges of the Maldives as a small island nation and stressed the need for collective solutions. In his presentation, Flag Officer Commanding Naval Fleet, Rear Admiral Rohan Joseph, underlined Sri Lanka’s strategic position in the Indian Ocean, located along a vital shipping route that connects East and West, giving the nation a unique responsibility in ensuring maritime safety and security.
Dr. Asantha Seneviratne, offering an academic perspective, compared Sri Lanka’s post-independence development with other island states and emphasized the importance of sound policies and strategies to address maritime challenges. Commander Carine Buzaud, Academic Director of the Regional Centre for Maritime Studies at KDU, outlined France’s role in fostering stability in the Indian Ocean, noting its continued security commitments to the legal use of the ocean.
Guiding the panel with clarity and engagement, Rear Admiral YN Jayaratne (Retd) enabled participants to share perspectives on the challenges of island states, while supplementing the dialogue with his own expert analysis on the matters raised.
