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In response to the request made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and with concurrence of the Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka Coast Guard is facilitating a five days’ workshop on ‘Oil Spill Response Workshop and Exercise’ from 06^th to 10^th June 2022 at Hilton Hotel, Colombo. The workshop is conducting by the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Environmental Security Directorate along with US Embassy in Colombo. All Government stakeholders involving with maritime incident response in Sri Lanka have been invited to nominate the participants for this workshop. The HE Julie J. Chung, the Ambassador of the United States to Sri Lanka and Maldives graced the inaugural ceremony as the Chief Guest and Rear Admiral Anura Ekanayake, Director General of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard attended as the Guest of Honour. Lieutenant Commander Sean Jin, the Chief of the Office of Defence Cooperation of the US Embassy, and representatives from the US Embassy in Colombo also joined with the opening ceremony.

Representatives from the Central Environment Authority, Ceylon Petroleum Cooperation, Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited, Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management Department, Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Wildlife Conservation, Disaster Management Centre, Foreign Ministry, Marine Environment Protection Authority, Merchant Shipping Secretariat, National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Coast Guard, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Ports Authority are attending for this five day workshop and exercise.

The main focus of this workshop is to enhance sustainable cooperation between the Government and other agencies to fight against maritime environmental challenges and develop adequate oil spill response capability within the country to combat oil spills in the marine environment. On the fourth day of the workshop, Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG) will conduct an equipment deployment exercise and static display at the Dikovita Fishery Harbour to showcase the existing capacity and the capability of the SLCG.