COLOMBO: Members of civil society, defence officials, academics and foreign dignitaries have called for transforming the Indian Ocean a zone of peace and denuclearisation in the trilateral dialogue on the maritime cooperation.

According to a press release, the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) conducted the trilateral dialogue on Sunday, with the Sri Lankan think-tank Factum and Baani Centre, a Maldives-based think tank.

The discussion was conducted for cooperation in several areas, such as maritime infrastructure, dealing with maritime disasters, climate resilience, economy and trade between small island and littoral states in South Asia, the statement said.

The panelists of the dialogue were Muniruzzaman, president of BIPSS; Rear Admiral Y N Jayarathna (retd), and Thoriq Hamid, co-founder of the Baani Centre.

The BIPSS president said that `over 80 per cent of global oil trade passes through the Indian Ocean`, adding that sea lines` safety is very crucial for the strength of the world political economy. He had mentioned that absence of maritime security is the biggest problem.

`Maritime security need to be improved`, Jayarathna said. He said `there is need to build capacity around marine spatial.

He said that the main concern for the Maldives are illegal fishing, narcotics trafficking, oil spills and terrorism. `Climate threats for a country like the Maldives, which is home to 99pc ocean and 1pc land, is something we cannot afford not to worry about,` Hamid said.

The dialogue concluded with the signing of a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) among the thinl( tanks.-Dawn Report