The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute

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THE INSTITUTE

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS), is a multi-disciplinary research forum dedicated to analyzing Sri Lanka’s strategic interests in the realm of international relations, within the contemporary domestic and global contexts. This Institute functions as a forum for the generation of research and analysis, with a view to providing an input to national policy formulation.

The successor to the Sri Lanka Institute of Strategic Studies (SLISS), this Institute was established by the enactment of SLISS (Amendment) Act, No. 32 of 2006, to the SLISS Act, No. 45 of 2000, which was certified on 26th of September 2006. The Institute was officially inaugurated on 10th August 2006.

The Institute is named after the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, P.C., M.P., three-times Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, who served in this capacity from 1994-2000, 2000-2001 and 2004-2005. The Institute is the realization of a goal relentlessly pursued by the late Foreign Minister, to fulfill the need in the country for a centre dedicated to the study of its strategic interests and international relations in a broader and holistic context. The Institute also reflects the late Minister Kadirgamar’s vision for Sri Lanka, by promoting the country’s intellectual profile and seeking to achieve the right balance between its strategic interests and the changing global realities.

The Institute’s goal encompasses his vision to see the country’s social fabric regain its historic internal harmony by embracing its multi cultural, multi ethnic character. The Institute’s role towards this end is to influence and shape

the wider considerations of national policy, while guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms, and achieving the common aspirations, of every section of Sri Lanka’s populace.

Housed at “The Lighthouse,” the Institute occupies a building steeped in contemporary Sri Lankan history, having been built by Mr. D. D. Peiris in Cinnamon Gardens. The building and surrounding land was acquired by the British Board of Trade in 1933 and housed the Imperial Lighthouse Service of Ceylon and Minicoy until 1976, when the ownership was transferred to the Sri Lanka Navy. It has belonged to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1977.

Currently the Institute is well equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that include a 120 seat auditorium, several conference and meetings rooms, a library and an electronic media monitoring centre.

The Institute’s façade as it appeared in the early 20th Century
(Source: The Book of Ceylon by H W Cave in 1908)