In his inaugural address to the Indian Conference 2016 in Singapore, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe called for the establishment of an Indian Ocean Order to govern the "interaction between states to ensure the safety and security of the Indian Ocean". Wickemasinghe focused on the emerging significance of the Indian Ocean's busy trade corridors and called for the establishment of an Indian Ocean Assembly.
"The Indian Ocean Region has an extraordinary opportunity to create something new in the global context and something historically uniquely beneficial to its people," stated the Wickremasinghe in his address. But he went on to say, "[t]here are major power interests at play particularly those of China and Japan. Middle power interest such as those of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Australia. Nor have the US and the European entity relinquished their interest in the region."
Wickremasinghe closed off his address by stating that an order in the Indian Ocean would be "preventive in that it contains the inevitable local disputes and prevents them from disrupting or spilling over on to a common Indian Ocean agenda."
Wickremasinghe was welcomed by officials of the Sri Lanka High Commission in Singapore and also met with State Minister Sri M. J. Akbar on his trip.