Sri Lanka and France signed a bilateral Agreement to establish a Regional Centre for Maritime Studies in Sri Lanka. The Agreement was signed by Secretary/ Ministry of Defence General (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne and Chargé d’ Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of France in Colombo Marie-Noëlle Duris, at the Ministry of Defence in Colombo yesterday.
The proposed Regional Centre for Maritime Studies envisages to serve as a Centre of Excellence in the Indian Ocean for academic and training collaborations including maritime safety and security, preservation and conservation of the marine environment and marine pollution response amongst other areas.