Secretary leads delegation to 6th Joint Working Group Meeting on People Smuggling and Transnational Crime in Australia
October 14, 2019The 6th Sri Lanka - Australia Joint Working Group Meeting on People Smuggling and Transnational Crime was held in Canberra, Australia on the 11th October (2019). Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, General (Retd) SHS Kottegoda, WWV RWP RSP VSV USP ndc, led the 11 member Sri Lankan delegation to the bilateral meeting.
The Australian delegation included the Acting Deputy Secretary,, Policy Group, Department of Home Affairs, Mr. Hamish Hansford, Joint Task Force Commander Operation Sovereign Border, Major General Craig Furini, High Commissioner of Australia in Sri Lanka H.E Mr. David Holly, Ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking, H.E Mr. Bryce Hutchisson and other state officials.
During the deliberations both sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue to work together on People Smuggling and Transnational Crime.
The Secretary Defence expressed his appreciation to the Australian Government for their continued support by way of providing patrol crafts to Sri Lanka for counter people smuggling activities. He also thanked them for the development assistance for maritime border management to the Sri Lanka Navy and Coast Guard.
Maritime cooperation, intelligence sharing and training are some of the other topics taken up for discussions during the meeting.
The Australian delegation was appreciative of the developments and commitment made by Sri Lanka to counter illegal immigration and people smuggling activities originating from its shores.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia H.E Mr. JC Weliamuna, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva and Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministry officials were among the Sri Lankan delegation.
During his visit to Australia, Secretary Defence also had meetings with several senior Australian officials including Secretary- Department of Defence, Mr. Greg Moriarty, Deputy Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, Ms. Linda Geddes and Associate Secretary, Department of Defence, Ms. Rebecca Skinner.
The Secretary also visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and paid floral tribute. The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organizations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia, and some conflicts involving personnel from the Australian colonies prior to Federation.
Meanwhile, the Secretary was accorded the honour of being felicitated by the Ex-Servicemen’s Association in Brisbane during his visit to Australia.
