The Sri Lankan delegation, led by State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene, included the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne, senior naval officers, and officials from the Ministry of Defense.
Participants at the High Level Meeting, chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Don Pramudwinai, discussed issues surrounding maritime piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia focusing on strengthening regional cooperation and coordination among governmental agencies and industry, and enhancing partnerships, among others.
The ReCAAP, a multi-lateral agreement among 20 countries, remains as the first regional government-to-government agreement to promote and enhance cooperation against piracy and armed robbery in Asia. It was finalized on 11 November 2004 and entered into force on 4 September 2006.
The twenty Contracting Parties to ReCAAP are Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Denmark, India, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, The Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Vietnam.
The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ReCAAP ISC) was established under the Agreement, and was officially launched in Singapore on 29 November 2006. It was formally recognized as an international organization on 30 January 2007.
At the 10th Governing Council Meeting of the ReCAAP ISC which was held from 15-17 March 2016 in Singapore and hosted by the Singapore Government, Governors from the ReCAAP countries commended the ReCAAP ISC on achieving further milestones in research and analysis, capacity building, engagement and co-operation with other organizations with interests in combating piracy and armed robbery against ships.
Both High Level Meeting and the Symposium had been successfully concluded with valuable deliverables, high level representations from Member Countries, and a large number of attendance from the maritime community at the Symposium demonstrating ReCAAPs strong relevance to the regional and international maritime community.
