27–29 April 2021 – The NESA Center hosted a maritime and regional security workshop in a partnership with the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) that focused on the changing environmental and strategic challenges in the Bay of Bengal region. The workshop was kicked off by comments from NESA Director LTG (Ret) Terry Wolff and NMF Chairman Admiral Sunil Lanba. Keynote remarks from Brigadier General (USAF) David Shoemaker, Deputy Director, Headquarters, USINDOPACOM and Mr. Harsh Kumar Jain (AS BIMSTEC, SAARC and Nalanda), Ministry of External Affairs, India initiated the panels. The workshop welcomed foreign service and military officers from countries of the Bay of Bengal region and those located within or with an interest in the wider Indian Ocean Region. Featured speakers came from a wide array of backgrounds, including military services, academic institutions, government research institutions, and think tanks. The topic of general discussion was “Challenges Emerging out of the COVID Environment.” NMF Director-General, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan and NESA’s Jeff Payne served as primary hosts for the event.

Speakers from top left: Mr. Jeff Payne (NESA), Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Director-General, NMF), LTG (Ret) Terry Wolff (NESA Director), Admiral Sunil Lanba (Chairman, NMF), Brigadier General David Shoemaker (USAF, Deputy Director, Headquarters, USINDOPACOM), Mr. Harsh Kumar Jain (AS BIMSTEC, SAARC and Nalanda, MEA, India, TBC by NMF), Rear Admiral M Lokmanur Rahman (Acting Chairman, BIMRAD), Dr. Collin Koh Swee Lean (RSIS), Admiral (Prof) Jayanath Colombage (Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and Director General, INSSSL), Dr. Pramod Jaiswal (Research Director, NIICE), Rear Admiral J. Singh (ACNS (FCI), Indian Navy), Captain Sarabjeet S Parmar (Executive-Director, NMF), Dr. Evan Laksmana (CSIS, Indonesia), Captain Sean Andrews (Director, Sea Power Centre – Australia), Ms. Veerle Nouwens (RUSI), Commodore KM Ramakrishnan (Cmde NCO, Indian Navy), Mr. Martin Cauchi Inglot (Head of Project, CRIMARIO II), Dr. Srinivasan Sitaraman (DKI APCSS), Mr. Jay Benson (Indo-Pacific Project Manager, Stable Seas)

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