JEDDAH, 2 April 2006 — A Sri Lanka ministerial delegation said Friday that its meetings with local ministers and officials had been “fruitful.”
“Our suggestion for training our workers in oil exploration skills in Saudi Arabia was warmly welcomed by Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi,” A.H.M. Fowzie, Sri Lankan minister of railways and transport, petroleum and petroleum resources development, told Arab News.
Fowzie said Al-Naimi had also accepted his proposal for sending some experts and highly skilled technicians in oil exploration to the Indian Ocean island state.
He said his country sought Saudi assistance particularly for exploiting oil and gas in Mannar, the northwest part. “We’ve already completed the seismic survey,” he added.
Fowzie, who also called on Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah during his visit to the capital, said he extended an invitation to him to visit the Kingdom on behalf of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
“During my meeting with Al-Naimi, we discussed formulating proposals for exploiting our oil resources and he agreed to send two-three experts immediately,” Fowzie said.
Some countries including Iran and the UAE have already pledged technological assistance to Sri Lanka to exploit its oil resources.
The Sri Lankan government disclosed last year that a massive oil deposit had been detected along the Puttalam to Hambantota sea belt. The excavation of the oil deposits is set to start in 2007.
Another Sri Lankan delegation comprising A.H.M. Azwer, adviser to Sri Lankan Rajapakse on parliamentary affairs and media ombudsman, and M.H. Mohamed, former speaker and former labor, employment and transport minister, separately met with Islamic Affairs and Endowment Minister Saleh Al-Asheikh.
Both Azwer and Mohamed said the delegation, which was also accompanied by Ambassador A.M.J. Sadiq, discussed with Al-Asheikh the long pending Ceylon House issue.
The Ceylon House in Makkah, which was once under the control of the Sri Lankan mission for offering assistance and service to the island’s pilgrims, has remained with a caretaker since 1960.
“We sought his intervention in helping us to get back the control of Ceylon House and Al-Sheikh assured us that he would examine the case,” Azwer said.
According to Azwer, the Ceylon House went into the hands of a caretaker after its trustees passed away and he had been putting it to commercial use.
Both delegations present at a community reception expressed their pleasure over the fact that the ruling coalition, the United People’s Freedom Alliance of President Rajapakse was heading for a landslide victory in Thursday’s local council election.
