Aruni Wijewardane

Researcher in residence at the Maison Suger from September to December 2026

Aruni Wijewardane is a Sri Lankan diplomat who served as the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. Previously she served in several senior positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, as well as overseas. From 2005 to 2008 she served as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Austria and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna. In addition to her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she also served as an international civil servant, as Director of the Secretariat of the Policy Making Organs of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2013 to 2020. At present she is a Visiting Fellow at Centre des Études et Recherches Internationales (CERI) at SciencesPo Paris researching foreign policy and the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean.

The project

Title: Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean

"The rise of Asia in this century has seen several countries - India and in East Asia - reach high levels of economic growth and technological development transforming the Asia-Pacific region into a global powerhouse. In parallel China’s rise as the world’s second largest economy, is accompanied by its growing assertiveness in the South China seas, its military including naval modernization, and its growing global influence through its BRI vision, economic advancement and infrastructure connectivity. The maritime domain of the Indian and Pacific oceans has played an important role connecting these Asian growth centres to the rest of the world. Against the background of the rise of Asia and China, the integrated ocean-centred ‘Indo-Pacific’ strategic space was conceptualized initially by an Asian Middle Power -Japan - as a securitized framework to preserve an open regional order. US policy adopted the Indo-Pacific as a framework for the containment and deterrence of China’s rise and the ensuing challenge to US hegemony in the region."

Hosting institution: Sciences Po