Dr Gupta basing his address to the session on five major areas; i.e. (1) Role of Economic Powers, (2) Reforms in Security, (3) Terrorism, (4) Fragile Economy, (5) Competition for Resources, added that considering emerging trends, one need to reform the effectiveness of the emerging economic powers. Similarly, maritime security such as piracy, safety and communication are new facets which we need to look at closely if we were to keep our economies as well as Indian Ocean stable.

In the same vein, terrorism still remains a major challenge as young crowds are getting more and more radicalized with the speedily growing cyber space with ample openings for training. Therefore, without ignoring good old methods of terrorism, cross-border unified preparedness and alertness need to be strengthened, he said.

Crash of stock markets, financial crises, etc are common elsewhere while a lot of economic growth is taking place in Asia. Similarly, as development goes on water resources have emerged as another challenge. More and more crises can be expected in the future as the need for cooperation is fast growing, he said.

He also underlined the significance of fostering Sri Lanka - India relations further which of course took place with the arrival of Sri Lanka’s President in India and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka, he pointed out.