MADINAH : Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Omar Lebbe Ameer Ajwad presented a Sri Lankan “Bougainvillea” plant sapling to His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Madinah Region to be planted in Madinah City as a token of goodwill gesture to support Saudi Arabia’s Green Initiative (SGI) which was launched by HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in alignment with Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision. Madinah Municipality recently launched a tree planting campaign under the initiative of “Here It Was Planted” and it has chosen Bougainvillea plant as it suits the region’s climate and environmental conditions.
The Saudi Green Initiative targets to grow 10 billion trees across the country with a view to addressing climate change, reduce emissions, and increase the use of clean energy in the Kingdom. As a country of remarkable biological diversity, Ambassador Ameer Ajwad added that Sri Lanka could closely collaborate with the objectives of Saudi Arabia’s Green Initiative (SGI).
Ambassador paid a courtesy call on the Governor of Madinah Province during his first visit to the holy city of Madinah after his assumption of duty as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The visit also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia which falls this year.
Tracing the historic relations between the two countries Ambassador Ameer Ajwad recalled that although the modern diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1974, the ancient diplomatic relation began in the 7th century CE, when Sri Lankan King of Anuradhapura Kingdom Aggabodhi III (623 – 640 CE) despatched an envoy to Madinah during the time of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) to learn about Islam at the request of Arab communities living at that time in Sri Lanka known as “Serendib” by Arabs. In that sense, Ambassador Ameer Ajwad pointed out that his visit to Madinah had a sentimental value at the time when the two countries commemorate a milestone of their diplomatic relations.
