New Sri Lankan envoy vows high-level contacts, trade with Saudi Arabia

A career diplomat, Packeer Mohideen Amza has previously served as ambassador to Turkey, Belgium and head of mission to the EU. He was also deputy chief of mission at Sri Lanka’s embassy in Berlin and acting high commissioner in London.

Amza will assume his new duties as ambassador in November.

“We have not had any high-level visits at the level of head of state or head of government or the foreign minister for a considerable period,” he told Arab News this week. “Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar visited the Kingdom in 2001 and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama visited in the year 2009”.

“While working on high-level visits to Saudi Arabia during my term of office, I also endeavor to work for high-level visits from the Kingdom to Sri Lanka. I am sure during the visits we may be able to identify new areas of cooperation,” he added. “My responsibility is to work closely with all stakeholders and build on the already-existing excellent bilateral relations.”

Amza said that he has been encouraged by the Sri Lankan leadership to diversify trade relations with Saudi Arabia, which currently are based on two commodities — tea and petroleum — and valued at $300 million.

“The total trade value is only about $300 million, dominated by tea from our side and petroleum products from the Saudi side. There is a need to diversify our exports,” he said. “I have received all the encouragement to diversify our export items to KSA. Virtual meetings with potential exporters covering the new areas have already been organized by the Ministry of Trade and Export Development Board.”

As he lauded Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 — the Kingdom’s reform program aimed at reducing its dependence on oil — Amza added that he also intends to explore possibilities for Sri Lankan companies in sectors such as information and communications technology, healthcare, construction, and tourism.

“Our relation with KSA is multifaceted, ranging from political, economic, religious, cultural — and built on common interests, mutual trust and respect,” Amza said.

One of the relationship’s key aspects is the labor market.

Saudi Arabia is a major labor-receiving country for Sri Lanka, with tens of thousands of workers from the island nation living in the Kingdom — making it one of the main sources of foreign remittances for Colombo.

“In the 1980s, many Sri Lankans went to Saudi Arabia as migrant workers. It is estimated that there are 150,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers employed in the Kingdom and (this has) contributed significantly to the Sri Lankan economy,” Amza said. “I am told that 23.5 percent of the foreign remittances are generated from the migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.”

The new envoy said that he was looking forward to his new assignment, and was encouraged by the enthusiasm of his country’s leadership.

“I am encouraged by the enthusiasm shown during my meetings with our leaders for consolidating the historic and important relationship between Sri Lanka and the Kingdom,” he said.