• ‘Not yet notified’ says senior officials in Colombo

Indian defence analyst Nitin Gokhale yesterday (20) took to social media, stating that India may soon nominate a retired senior official as the first Secretary General of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC).

The post of the Secretary General of the CSC – headquartered in Colombo, which has not been filled since the originally tri-lateral regional security grouping was established to foster close cooperation on maritime security matters between the Indian Ocean neighbours, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

In August last year (2024), the CSC saw its membership grow, and the grouping listed five pillars of cooperation, including maritime safety and security; countering terrorism and radicalisation; combating trafficking and transnational organised crime; cyber security and protection of critical infrastructure and technology and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief were also listed as key areas of cooperation.

Gokhale yesterday (20) took to social media platform ‘X’ , stating, “India will soon name a retired senior official as the first Secretary General of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC), a security grouping in the Indian Ocean region, to head its secretariat based in Colombo, according to indications available this week. The Colombo Security Conclave is the result of the revival of an earlier trilateral maritime security mechanism which had become more or less defunct until the meeting of the NSAs of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives took place in Colombo in November 2020 to forge closer cooperation on maritime and security matters between the three Indian Ocean countries.”

The Indian High Commission in Colombo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Minister for Defence was not available for comment on the statement.

However, a senior government official speaking to The Daily Morning on terms of anonymity, said that Colombo is yet to receive any notification from New Delhi about such an appointment.