TASAM | Turkey - Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue Thinking Diplomacy: N...

Turkey - Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue

“Thinking Diplomacy: New World New Horizons“

When we look at the main trends in the world, global competition in the age of new economy based on "information and knowledge-based products" following "soil and machinery" is developing through "micro-nationalism", "integration" and "unpredictability’’. Challenges that determine the new nature of life and state; such as " crisis in resource and sharing ", unsustainability of production-consumption-growth formula, purge of the middle class with Chinese leverage, energy, water, and food insecurity, transition to the 4th dimension, liquidation of human resources in the workforce, transition from hard power to soft and smart power on the basis of the very changing state nature and anticipation management, can be formed as the basic references.

Within all these fundamental parameters, the transformations in technology are prone to change the whole human life and nature by developing with artificial intelligence, virtual/enhanced reality and mobility centered. It is obvious that the concepts of "Industry 4.0" and "Society 5.0" are important topics for managing the transformation of the world within the dimensions of industry and society. Another contributive factor is the turbulence that China creates as it begins to become intensively dominant on the world stage day to day. The New Silk Road project, "One Belt and One Road Initiative"; is shaped as a global integration project involving more than hundred countries, both on land and at sea, permanently changing the distribution of economic shares. In countries with no middle class, authoritarian regimes or chaos stands as two options in the fore-seeable future. How to make the division of labor in terms of regional and global security and how to share the costs is also a point of discussion in the coming period.

The development of new alliances on security can be read from the risks and the initiatives undertaken by dominant countries. The quality of the concepts of property and power, and the business model change historically. The future of the EU with the "Failure in Success" syndrome will be determined by the results of the polarization which revived in the West after the Brexit. Along with all these developments, "Ecosystem of safety" changes with the law. The "Security - Democracy" dilemma will be experienced much more after that. Because, for the democracy, it is difficult to survive in countries where the middle class is melting and security leans to a sophisticated ground. The question "Will security bring us authoritarian regimes" needs to be discussed further.

The Republic of Turkey distinguishes itself with an 84-million inhabitants, growing economy and geo-strategic status in the center of Afro-Eurasia. Turkey's historical, political and cultural ties between Europe, Black Sea, Caucasus, Asia, Middle East and African countries, rising activity in the international arena, especially in the United Nations, being an important member of organizations such as NATO, OSCE and CICA and with active foreign policy, it has become an increasingly important actor on the global platform.

On the other hand, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as an island country (known as Ceylon till 1972) in the Indian Ocean, has an acreage of 65,610 km², population of over 22 million, GDP of 88.9 billion dolar (2018), and memberships in the international organizations such as ASEAN, CICA, SAARC, WTO etc. The country is a liberal economy, governed by multi-party, democratically elected governments.

Relations between Turkey and Sri Lanka are on a positive course. The visit of the President, the then Prime Minister of Turkey of the Republic of Turkey to Sri Lanka at the beginning of 2005, in the context of his tour to the countries affected by tsunami in the Indian Ocean that occurred at the end of 2004, constituted an important threshold in the bilateral relations. The visit of the then President of Sri Lanka in 2008 was the first visit from the country to Turkey at the Presidential level.

The Minister of City Planning and Water Supply (President of the Sri Lanka - Turkey Interparliamentary Friendship Group), who was assigned by the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for strengthening bilateral relations, paid an official visit to Turkey in 2016. In the same year, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs paid an official visit to Sri Lanka and that was the first official visit by a Turkish Foreign Minister to the country. The first round of the two countries’ political consultations between the two delegations headed by the Turkish Foreign Deputy Minister and Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka was held in 2019 in Colombo.

The bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Sri Lanka stood at 185.7 million dollars in 2019 and trade gap weigh against Turkey was 17.1 million dollars. The main products exported by Turkey to Sri Lanka are iron and steel, textile fiber and products, electrical machinery and devices. The main products exported by Sri Lanka to Turkey are clothing and its accessories, coffee and tea (Turkey was the country to which Sri Lanka exports the most tea in 2017).

The 1^st Meeting of the Turkey - Sri Lanka Joint Economic Commission (JEC) was held in Ankara in 2016. Since its establishment, the Commission has been working to deepen economic relations and increase mutual investments.

Together with the housing project carried out by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the direct capital investment from Turkey to Sri Lanka is estimated to be around 3 million dollars. There is no direct capital investment from Sri Lanka to Turkey. TIKA also provided equipment and support to the construction works for the Ampara Irrigation Dam Project, which was carried out by the NGO “Child Rehabilitation Centre“ in 2018. This project is based on irrigation of 8,100 decares of land and the benefit of 15,000 people.

Now it is required that the two countries head towards a future structure, in order to uplift the Turkey - Sri Lanka relations an ideal point within a world power schema which takes its form in a multi-dimensional way, by creating a mutual deepening not only in political and strategic basis but also in its each parameters. History offers both the two countries opportunities for deepening their interdependency. In this regard, the Turkey - Sri Lanka Strategic Dialogue, which will bring together the representatives of the related sectors in a comprehensive way that includes the strategic dimension of the relations, will play a significant role.

Main Theme
Thinking Diplomacy: New World New Horizons

Sub Themes
New Balances New Economy
Turkey - Sri Lanka Economic Relations: Opportunities and Obstacles
Future Asia and Turkey - Sri Lanka
China - Sri Lanka Relations and Turkey
Energy Security, Energy Supply Policies and Opportunities
Technology Sharing
Turkey - Sri Lanka Security and Defence Cooperation
Middle East- Africa and Turkey - Sri Lanka
Central Asian Countries and Turkey-Sri Lanka
Academic and Cultural Cooperation

Primary Sectors
Public Diplomacy, Education and Language
Culture and Tourism
Construction, Construction Business and Infrastructure
Health and Health Tourism
Energy, Petro-chemistry and Investments
Logistics, Transportation and Communication
Banking and Finance (Strategic Investment Fund)
Economy and Trade
Media and Communication
Science and Technology
Brand Cities and Environment
Defence and Space Industry

STUDIES AND ACTIVITIES (DRAFT)

Method
Inductive Reasoning, Participation and Economic Deepening

Turkey - Sri Lanka Committee of Wise Persons Meetings Workshop

Building Capacity and Ecosystem Inventory

Preparation of Research Projects and their Reports

Development of Pro-active Policy Recommendations

Round-Table Meetings/Workshops

Multilateral Workshops/Studies

Sector Workshops/Activities

Applied Interactive Modelings

Strategic Reports
Publication of sector studies as strategic reports for decision makers, private sector, media and public opinion of the two countries. Providing literature and memory support.

Media Conferences

Other Academic Studies
Strategic Reports, Books, Articles, Thesis and so on Academic Studies

Event Page
https://tasam.org/en/Etkinlik/18318/turkey_-_sri_lanka_strategic_dialogue_