Sri Lankan Ambassador Azim Thassim speaks on the first anniversary celebrations of President Maithripala Sirisena’s ascendance to presidency in Riyadh on Friday.

Sri Lanka embarked on a new chapter with fresh vision under the leadership of Maithripala Sirisena, the country’s president, who celebrated the first anniversary of his ascendance to the presidency, Ambassador Azmi Thassim said.

Sri Lankan community members from all walks of life gathered under the aegis of their embassy to celebrate the event at the embassy premises on Friday.

Representatives from the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities in the island addressed the gathering highlighting unity, good governance, role of media and rights and privileges of members of all faiths in the island for peaceful coexistence.

Thassim, who presented his credentials to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman last week, said that he was happy to see that the Sri Lankan community in the Kingdom has set an example to their countrymen back home for living with unity, understanding, tolerance and compromise among their own own community members.

The envoy also pointed out that with the support of community members he hopes to lift the image of the country to new heights through bilateral cooperation with the host country.

“Our embassy has existed here in the Kingdom for well over 34 years and we have to gear up our efforts to reach new heights in our bilateral relations with the Kingdom,” Thassim said, pointing out that plans are being chalked out to strengthen two-way trade between the two countries.

“We have a lot to offer for Saudi businessmen and Saudi tourists,” he said, “it is time for us to tell of the country’s potentials and resources to the host country to pave the way for new areas of cooperation between the two groups.” There are some 550,000 Sri Lankans living in the Kingdom.

Because of the increasing passenger traffic between the two countries, Saudi Arabian Airlines and foreign airlines including Sri Lankan Airlines operate regular flights to the island.

Community members who spoke at the gathering included Seyed Salim Refai Maulana, group treasurer of Faisaliah Group; S. Thangaswamy, senior IT manager; Lakshman Ranawaeera, chief accountant at Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance Company; Chanaka Fernando, quality and customer service manager at Saudi United for Mechanical, Electrical and Electronic Industries Corporation; and Z.M. Zubair, manager at Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Company.

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