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Ambassador Blake's Introductory Remarks "Partnering for a Safer Sea” Conference South Asian Regional Port Security Cooperative Sun Island, Maldives, May 19, 2008
I am honored to be here with representatives of such a diverse group of Indian Ocean nations for the “Partnering for a Safer Seas” Conference, the inaugural conference of the South Asian Regional Port Security Cooperative or "SARPSCO."
I would like to thank the Government of Maldives, especially Minister Saeed and his Ministry of Transport and Communications, for hosting the conference on this beautiful island. I would also like to recognize and thank my United States Coast Guard colleagues for their hard work in facilitating the organization of this conference. And I must say what a privilege it is for me to represent my country in Maldives. Each time I visit, I appreciate the warm hospitality of the Maldivian people and the phenomenal natural beauty of this remarkable island nation.
Importance of maritime security
It’s appropriate that the first SARPSCO conference is being held in Maldives, a country comprised of 1,200 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, whose national security and economy are dependent on the seas that surround it. Yet Maldives is not unique in requiring maritime security.
Every country in the international community has an interest in the oceans remaining peaceful and secure. The maritime domain encompasses trade routes, communication links, and natural resources vital to the global economy. You all know as well as I do that sea trade is the lifeblood of the global economy. Almost 80 percent of the world’s trade is carried by sea. That includes the energy supplies that are so vital to all. A healthy portion of that trade is carried on the sea lanes that run astride to Maldives.
So it is no wonder that maritime security is of paramount strategic and economic importance to the world and to you. However, the great size, openness, and resources of the oceans are also potential vulnerabilities that make the maritime domain a prime target for criminals, terrorists, pirates and weapons proliferators to exploit. In today’s virtually and physically interconnected world, maritime security threats are transnational issues that cannot be addressed by individual countries alone.
That is why conferences such as this one are important -- they help build needed recognition, understanding, and will to collaborate on a regional level. All of your presence today underscores the importance that your respective nations place on strengthening international cooperation to promote maritime security. At this conference we will discuss maritime threats specific to the Indian Ocean region, in order to learn from each other’s experiences and share best practices. We hope you will use these to improve your own maritime security practices, thus contributing to greater regional security.
Marine Security Threats in the Indian Ocean
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, maritime security took on an even higher profile. Maritime challenges had long included drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human smuggling, sea piracy, pollution, natural disasters, accidents, and inter-state conflicts. To that list were added the growing concerns of maritime terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Many of these threats stem from non-state, non-traditional actors seeking to disrupt and destroy national interests, such as those behind the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 and the attack on the Basra oil terminal in 2004. Clearly, cargo containers and international seaports pose potentially attractive targets for terrorists. A successful attack against a port could cripple a nation’s economy and disrupt international shipping worldwide.
The Indian Ocean region is not immune to these maritime threats, which is why we are here to explore how we can prevent them. The Indian Ocean has some of the busiest sea lanes in the world. The region has been connected for thousands of years by maritime trade routes that continue to link the Middle East, Africa and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. Today 100,000 ships transit its shipping lanes a year, with a large amount of traffic carrying vital petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. With such a high volume energy supplies and goods crossing the area, the security of the Indian Ocean is a top concern for all countries of the region. That is why it is so important that we convene today, with participants from India to Madagascar, Pakistan to Mauritius.
Maritime Threats to Sri Lanka
I represent the United States in both Sri Lanka and Maldives, so I would like to take a few moments to talk about how maritime security features in United States relations with both of these valued friends.
Sri Lanka, which lies in the middle of the Indian Ocean maritime routes, works hard to protect its surrounding seas. The Sri Lanka Navy has to monitor 400 to 500 ships a day within 12 miles of its coast. The Port of Colombo handles more than 19 million international containers annually. Sri Lanka’s economy hinges on the security and efficiency of this port.
I would like to recognize the dedication and the success of the Sri Lanka Navy in defending the port, the island, and its surrounding waters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- the LTTE. The Navy has had singular success in the last year in sinking a significant number of LTTE cargo vessels attempting to deliver weapons to support LTTE terrorist activities. But the LTTE is a determined and sophisticated force. Just last week, hours before the important provincial election in the East, the LTTE sunk a naval cargo ship in eastern Sri Lanka, apparently using a suicide bomber for the underwater attack.
In the face of this active terrorist threat, the Sri Lanka Navy, Coast Guard, Port Authority, and Customs, plus private sector shippers and others, are engaged in protecting the Port of Colombo while avoiding delays and inconveniences that would hamper the port's efficiency. How to balance the smooth flow of trade with port security requirements is a challenge all of you face as well. There is no perfect formula, but the best approach involves close cooperation of all players -- military, government, and private. This too is an area that I know will be of real interest in your discussions here.
U.S.-Maldives and U.S. –Sri Lanka cooperation
Maritime cooperation and exchanges are key elements for America’s national security strategy. The United States is committed to working closely with our allies and partners around the world to ensure maritime security. Under a central concept we call Global Maritime Partnership, we seek to unite governments, international organizations, and private maritime interests into a network dedicated to addressing maritime challenges.
Since September 11, the United States has established security partnerships at over fifty international seaports with governments and thousands of private sector shipping and logistics companies. These programs include the Container Security Initiative, the Secure Freight Initiative, the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism or C-TPAT, and the Coast Guard Biometrics-at-Sea program.
Our Coast Guard has been instrumental in these efforts. This conference in fact grew out of the U.S. Coast Guard's efforts to foster collaboration among Indian Ocean governments and private sector players with a stake in regional maritime security.
The United States appreciates Maldives' and Sri Lanka's support for these and other efforts in the Global War on Terrorism. Maldivian defense officials have consistently welcomed cooperation with U.S. military counterparts and have been responsive to our requests to accommodate overflights and ship visits for our troops transitioning to the Middle East. We look forward to further maritime cooperation and military interoperability between American and Maldivian forces, through joint exercises, training opportunities, and ship visits.
Sri Lanka can be proud that Colombo was the first port in Asia to implement both the U.S. Container Security Initiative and the Megaports nuclear screening program. Sri Lanka is one of 58 foreign ports in the Container Security Initiative, or CSI, through which U.S. Customs officials work with their foreign counterparts to screen cargo before it is loaded onto ships bound for the United States. CSI uses sophisticated targeting algorithms to identify and target high-risk containers and uses X-ray detection technology to quickly pre-screen these containers. The close and cooperative relationship between our CSI office and Sri Lankan Customs and the Sri Lanka Port Authority is instrumental in the program's success, as together we have effectively addressed several unusual container security incidents in the last year.
Complementing this, Sri Lanka also implements the Megaports program designed by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. Through this initiative, we collaborate with partner countries to equip sea ports with state-of-the-art equipment to detect radioactive material in cargo containers as they move through a port. The program is designed to avert a terrorist attack or effort to smuggle a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb.
Another example how the U.S. and Sri Lanka are partnering to counter terrorism in the Indian Ocean is the Export Control and Border Security program, through which the United States is providing training to improve export controls designed to prevent proliferations of weapons of mass destruction.
Finally, Sri Lanka is also one of 86 countries that have endorsed the Proliferation Security Initiative, which aims to interdict transfers of Weapons of Mass Destruction and related materials.
The CSI, Megaports, and EXBS programs are designed to complement each other. They represent the layered, multi-agency approach that the U.S. government is taking to guard ourselves and others against new terrorist attacks. At the same time, these programs help our partners strengthen their law enforcement, customs, and military maritime forces' ability to secure their own ports and territorial waters.
Need for maritime security cooperation
In the next few days, you will be sharing ideas and initiatives to address shared maritime security challenges. You represent a diverse range of countries, with a diverse range of interests. But, in light of our collective interest in maritime security, I encourage you to be both frank and open minded as you consider how to proceed. By combining your expertise, experience, wisdom, and determination, you can make a difference in strengthening maritime security in your neighborhood. When the conference concludes, I urge you to take your ideas and recommendations back home to encourage your national political leadership, law enforcement and civil society to devote the resources necessary to improve maritime security. The United States looks forward to working with all of you as we pursue the shared goal of a secure and prosperous region and world.
Thank you.