Sri Lanka seeks to strengthen economic ties with Saudi Arabia – The Island
The Minister of State for Regional Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tharaka Balasuriya, and the Minister of State for Foreign Employment and Market Diversification, Priyankara Jayarathna, and the delegation paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to promote economic and commercial activity and attract foreign direct investment to Sri Lanka as well as to stimulate and improve the employment of Sri Lankan nationals in Saudi Arabia, among others. The main objectives of the Ministry of State for Regional Cooperation are to enlarge and stimulate trade, especially exports, to attract investment and to expand economic activity with other countries, thus encompassing the sphere economic diplomacy.
During the high-level visit to Saudi Arabia, Minister of State Tharaka Balasuriya and his delegation held discussions, meetings, calls and engagements with political leaders and corporate captains of industry, among others. State Minister Balasuriya had meetings and engagements with the Minister of Investments; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs; Chairman and CEO of large diversified conglomerates and leading chambers of commerce based in Riyadh, among others. Investments Minister Khalid Al-Falih and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir expressed and expressed their interest in watching Sri Lanka at this critical juncture with great interest and interest. acuity, given the strategic location of the country, the areas of intervention that Sri Lanka projects for foreign investors, the educated and highly trainable Sri Lankan workforce and the access to a mega-market made up of more than 1.8 billion people in South Asia since Sri Lanka has FTAs and multilateral trade agreements, among others. The Minister of Investment, whom Minister of State Balasuriya met first, immediately scheduled and coordinated a high-level meeting with business and industry leaders at the level of Presidents and CEOs of some of the most major Saudi Arabian trading houses. This meeting brought together nearly 25 executives of Saudi companies with a combined net market capitalization of over $1.4 trillion. Most of them were keen and eager to consider Sri Lanka as an investment destination and conduct business.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia explained that the large Sri Lankan migrant population in Saudi Arabia has contributed markedly and demonstrably to the advancement and growth of the Kingdom, over the years , at the lunch he hosted in honor of Minister of State Balasuriya. and Delegation. Minister of State Balasuriya publicly declared the sincere appreciation and gratitude of the government and people of Sri Lanka for the assistance, cooperation and facilitation as well as aid and grants extended to Sri Lanka over the past four decades, which have contributed significantly and significantly to uplifting the socio-economic landscape of the country. He further added that Sri Lanka was very grateful and obliged to Saudi Arabia for supporting Sri Lanka in multilateral forums in the past, mainly in the Human Rights Council.
State Minister Balasuriya met with Ali Al Hazmi, Group CEO and Board of Directors of a highly diversified global company, Ajlan & Bros Holdings Group. During this meeting, each of the directors of the Ajlan Group exhibited and illustrated their myriad of expertise in the fields of energy, environment, oil and gas, tourism, logistics, health , education and technology, among others. They expressed their interest in proactively engaging with Sri Lanka at this critical and foundational intersection of the geo-economic and geo-strategic transformation of international business and trade in the region. Minister of State Balasuriya was accompanied by the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Amza, the Ministry’s Additional Secretary, Prof. A. Saj U. Mendis and the Embassy Minister (Commercial), Sanjeewa Pattiwila, at all engagements and meetings in Riyadh. State Minister Balasuriya and his delegation met with LUCID Corporate, which specializes in manufacturing electric vehicles. LUCID is headquartered in California and Minister of State Balasuriya discussed the proposed graphene supply from Sri Lanka as it is a material requirement for electric vehicle batteries, among others. Sri Lanka has the purest graphene in the world. Clearly, LUCID has shown a palpable interest in this commercial solicitation.
State Minister Balasuriya hosted a high-level forum at the Federation of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, which was attended by a number of prominent industry and business leaders. Minister of State Balasuriya and Ambassador Amza addressed the Forum focusing on Sri Lanka’s six focus areas namely Tourism, ICT, Pharmaceuticals, Logistics, Textiles and minerals, among others. State Minister Balasuriya and his delegation had a very focused meeting with the Chairman and Board of Directors of ACWA Power, one of the largest power generation companies in the world with a value of over 65 billions of dollars. The Company produces more than 40,000 MW of electricity on an annual basis and is present in more than 15 countries. They have already expressed interest in Sri Lanka to build six solar power projects and two wind power projects at an estimated cost of $800 million. Each of these eight projects would generate around 100MW of electricity and the company is 50% owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the five largest sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the world. Senior ACWA Power executives were met in Sri Lanka to define the most effective course of action to execute the project before Minister of State Balasuriya leaves for Saudi Arabia for a two-day visit. During all meetings, calls and engagements, Minister of State Balasuriya has emphasized and stated that this is the best time to establish a commercial and/or investment presence in Sri Lanka when many other countries, both in the region than in Europe and the United States, are already present in the country.
Ministry of State for Regional Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo
