ISAS Special Reports

As an island nation in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka lies at the crossroads of the major shipping routes. The country’s location has garnered the interest of regional and major powers which are interested in increasing their maritime strategic and economic footprint in the Indo-Pacific region. In the past decade, geopolitical competition has intensified between India, China and other Western players, and this rivalry is increasingly manifested in ports and port-related industries. ISAS and the Pathfinder Foundation, Sri Lanka, jointly organised a roundtable on ‘Indian Investment in Colombo Port: A Game Changer in Sri Lanka’s Port?’. An outcome of the roundtable, this Special Report discusses the ramifications of Indian investments in the Sri Lankan port sector, against the background of the evolving economic and geopolitical milieu in the region and beyond.