LKI Hosts Expert Roundtable on “Strengthening Engagement in U.S.-Sri Lanka Relations”

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The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) hosted a roundtable discussion on October 18, on the theme “Strengthening Engagement in U.S.-Sri Lanka (SL) Relations”. The roundtable was facilitated by LKI Executive Director Amb. Ravinatha Aryasinha, and featured U.S. Fulbright Scholar Keerthi Martyn, who was hosted by the LKI and concluded a 9-month Fulbright research project, where he set out to understand and critically examine the avenues of mutual cooperation in the U.S.-SL relationship.

Mr. Martyn opened the discussion by presenting his research findings, where he outlined his analysis and explored the “Resetting, Restraint, and Re-engagement” of the U.S.-SL bilateral relationship.

Mr Martyn examined the missed opportunities in the post-conflict era and the necessity of a “reset” of relations, evaluated the current shifts and characterizations of U.S. and Sri Lankan foreign policies and the strategy of “restraint” in their execution. He identified areas of “re-engagement” in the political, geopolitical, economic, development, security, and multilateral regional spheres.

The discussion provided an opportunity for a variety of stakeholders ranging from foreign policy practitioners and academics from Sri Lanka and the US, business leaders, and civil society to contribute to the debate.

While acknowledging important contributions made by the US to Sri Lanka in the past, stakeholders also provided their perspectives on the sources of consternation and strategic gaps between prior engagements, and how to foster stronger relations moving forward.

The topics of discussion included how to better address political fractures around issues of human rights, the need for the US to directly engage with Sri Lanka on its own terms – rather than to be seen as being affiliated with or pointedly against other countries with which Sri Lanka has important relations, the present realities of Sri Lanka’s geopolitical balancing act in the Indian Ocean, how to strengthen the bilateral relationship with a more inclusive U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, the importance of domestic economic regulatory reforms to strengthen trade and increase incentives for American investments, the visibility of U.S. development in Sri Lanka, and how to build capacity for a stronger maritime security relationship.

Stakeholders at the roundtable discussion included: Former Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to the USA and Chairman, Pathfinder Foundation Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke, Additional Secretary of Bilateral Affairs-West, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ms. Yasoja Gunasekera, Former Chief of Staff, SL Navy Rear Admiral Y.N Jayarathna, Senior Lecturer, Department of Strategic Studies, KDU Dr. Bhagya Senaratne, Regional Indo-Pacific Coordinator, U.S. Embassy Dustin Bickel, Political Officer, U.S. Embassy Kevin Price, Economic Officer, U.S. Embassy Daniel Moon, President of the American Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka Shirendra Lawrence, Senior Advisor, South Asia Programs, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Dr. Daniel Markey, Vice President, Sri Lanka/USA Business Council at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Charithra Hettiarachchi, Head of Secretariat of the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka Ms. Vrai Raymond, Executive Director, Center for Policy Alternatives Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director, National Peace Council Dr. Jehan Perera, Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies Dr. Asanka Wijesinghe, Assistant Manager of Economics Verit‚ Research Malinda Meegoda and Research Analyst, USIP Ms. Isha Gupta,.