Combating Somali piracy CGPCS Secretariat to be established in Sri Lank

The Secretariat of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) will be established in Sri Lanka, following recent Cabinet approval.

The proposal put forward by President Maithripala Sirisena, as the Minister of Defence, to formally request the New York office of CGPCS to give Sri Lanka the opportunity to establish its Secretariat in the country, was approved by Cabinet. The Secretariat will be complimented by the Navy as per the proposal. Sri Lanka has been a member of CGPCS since its inception in 2009, with the goal of facilitating the discussion and coordination of actions among member States and organizations to suppress Somali piracy.

Since 2009, the number of pirate attacks against ships worldwide till present has seen a significant decrease from 410 to 180 attacks in 2017. Out of these, the number of times the attacks have been led by Somali pirates have decreased from 80 (2009) to a mere five cases in 2017.

Piracy at high seas has made a huge impact on the global economy and politics and has become a severe non conventional security threat to States. Therefore, since of late, regional States have come together on a global scale to address the matter in piracy hotspots with the creation of various global maritime watchdogs.