Ocean Nations: An Indo-Pacific Islands Dialogue 

Ahmed Khaleel is minister of state for foreign affairs for the Maldives. Throughout his long tenure in foreign service His Excellency Khaleel has risen through the diplomatic ranks as a result of his immense positive contribution to the Foreign Service of the Maldives. As Secretary, Bilateral, His Excellency Khaleel was instrumental in shaping the Maldives overall bilateral engagement with its partners and contributed to shaping and conducting the foreign policy of the Maldives.

Jayanath Colombage is the foreign secretary for Sri Lanka. He has served the Sri Lanka Navy for a period of 36 years and retired as the Commander of the Navy on 01 July 2014. He is the 18th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy and was decorated for gallantry and commended for exceptional service to the Navy.

Lisa Curtis is deputy assistant to the President and senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council. Formerly, she was a senior research fellow on South Asia at The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center. Prior to joining Heritage, she served on the professional staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she held the South Asia portfolio for the then-chairman, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN).

Amatlain Elizabeth Kabua is the permanent representative of the Marshall Islands to the United Nations. Until her latest appointment, Ms. Kabua had served as ambassador to Fiji since 2009. From 2003 to 2009, she held the position of field service consultant to her country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having serving earlier as ambassador to Japan between 1997 and 2003.

Edgard D. Kagan is the senior director for East Asia and Oceania on the National Security Council. Previously he served as Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi and U. S. Consul General in Mumbai. A Foreign Service officer since 1991, he served at U. S. Embassies in Australia, China, Israel, Hungary, and the Ivory Coast.

J.D. Koonjul is ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Mauritius to the United Nations. Honoured in 2016, as grand officer of the Order of Star and Key of Mauritius (G.O.S.K), ambassador Koonjul is nationally and internationally known for his wide knowledge, insight, clarity of vision and leadership in advocating the cause of Small Island Developing States, respect for international law and the rule of law.

Dr. Anna Powles is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University. Dr. Powles is also an Associate Scholar with the MacMillan Brown Center for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, and has previously held visiting fellowships with the East-West Center, in Honolulu.

Mr. Randall Schriver is the Chairman of the Board of the Project 2049 Institute and a partner at Pacific Solutions LLC. Just prior, he served for two years as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs where he led a team of nearly one hundred professionals and was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on matters related to the Indo-Pacific region.

Hiroyuki Suzuki is chief representative for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation in Washington DC. His career in JBIC spans over 20 years and a wide range of roles, starting in JBIC’s Treasury Department in 2000. Previously he was the senior representative for JBIC in Washington DC.

Teburoro Tito is currently the Kiribati Ambassador to the United Nations, the United States, and also the Kiribati Ambassador Designate to Mexico and Canada. Prior to his appointment to the diplomatic service of his country, Mr. Tito had represented and served his people as the President of Kiribati. During his tenure as president he arranged for Kiribati’s membership of the United Nations and represented Kiribati at the annual UN General Assembly Summits from 1999 to 2002.

Atsushi Watanabe is a senior research fellow with the Ocean Policy Institute at Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Since 2018, he has been a senior researcher at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation Institute for Ocean Policy, leading policy research on blue economy and blue carbon. Since July 2020, he has served as a director of the Japan Blue Economy Association.

Fiona Webster is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). She commenced as Australia’s Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in December 2020. Immediately prior to this, she was A/g First Assistant Secretary of DFAT’s Consular and Crisis Management Division.

Atsushi Sunami is the President of The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, as well as the President of the Ocean Policy Research Institute of The Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He is also Director of the SciREX center and Executive Advisor to the President at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and Guest Professor at the Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation at Waseda University.

Junko Chano is the Executive Director at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF). Prior to joining SPF, Ms. Chano worked at several foundations including the Japan Foundation, Philadelphia Foundation and the Ford Foundation’s New York Office. At the Ford Foundation, she helped strengthening the capacity of community foundations that emerged around the globe.