RIYADH :Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka Bimal Rathnayake and his delegation comprising Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Saudi Arabia Ameer Ajwad, Additional Director General of Sri Lanka Road Development Authority Ms. D.A.S. Jayasekara and Private Secretary to the Minister . Asanka Chandrasena were received by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad along with the Deputy CEO Eng. Faisal Al-Qahtani and Director General of Asia Operations at the Fund, Dr. Saud bin Ayed Al-Shammari.
Extending a warm welcome to Minister Ratnayake and his delegation to the SFD headquarters in Riyadh, CEO Al-Marshad recalled his recent successful visit to Sri Lanka to inaugurate the Wayamba University Township Development Project, funded by the SFD with a contribution of USD 28 million for the development of the education sector in Sri Lanka. CEO also briefed on the strong development partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka since 1981 and commended the excellent cooperation extended by the Sri Lankan bureaucrats and professionals in successfully implementing 15 SFD funded development projects and programmes in Sri Lanka.
In response, Minister Bimal Ratnayake expressed the Government of Sri Lanka’s sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the continued development assistance through the SFD financing for vital projects in key sectors including water, agriculture, transport, health, and education. He further underscored that such projects and programmes contribute to Sri Lanka’s social and economic growth and support achieving country’s sustainable development goals. During the meeting, Minister Ratnayake explored further development cooperation in transport sector projects including roads, railways and public transport development and submitted potential project proposals.
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ameer Ajwad pointed out that the SFD continues to play a crucial role in advancing key development projects in Sri Lanka and that Saudi Arabia was the only country that did not suspend disbursement of its funds for development assistance to Sri Lanka despite the recent economic downturn of Sri Lanka.
The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has provided a total amount of concessional development soft loans exceeding USD $ 424 Million (1.5 billion Saudi Riyals) as development assistance to Sri Lanka over the decades. Fifteen (15) different development projects including Colombo Water Supply and Sewerage Project (1981), Kinniya bridge, the longest bridge in Sri Lanka, Nero Trauma unit at the Colombo national hospital, Kalu Ganga Development Project, Medical Faculty for Sabragamuwa University, Wayamba University Township, Peradeniya – Badulla – Chenkaladi Road, were funded by the SFD under their global development assistance programme.
