Sri Lankan envoy to leave Kingdom as tenure ends

RIYADH: Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Kingdom Mohamed Hussein Mohamed will be leaving the country upon the completion of his tenure on Thursday.
In an interview with Arab News, the former mayor of Colombo expressed his sadness in bidding farewell to the Kingdom after an eventful year. He credited government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and community members for the success of his stay in Saudi Arabia.
“I am thankful to all those who contributed to facilitate my work as ambassador to serve the community and promote bilateral relations”.
Despite the envoy’s brief tenure in the country, he played an instrumental role in the relocation of the Sri Lankan Embassy to a spacious complex in Sulaimaniyah last week.
Under Mohamed’s initiative as ambassador, the embassy established a mission to achieve several important tasks such as the preparation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the councils of chambers and industry of both countries, the exemption of the Sri Lankan International School of Riyadh from the Nitaqat program and to initiate the provision of aid to Sri Lanka from the Saudi Fund For Development.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a farewell lunch for the outgoing ambassador at its headquarters recently. As a symbol of appreciation and gratitude for his services to the Sri Lankan community, members had organized a farewell for Mohamed in a hotel in Riyadh.
The largest concentration of Sri Lankans, out of the country’s 1.5 million expatriates working in the Middle East, is found in Saudi Arabia totaling 550,000 people.