RIYADH, 27 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia has shown interest in Sri Lanka’s proposal to establish an Arab cultural center at Beruwala, near Colombo, which was the site of the first Arab settlement in Sri Lanka 900 years ago.
“Both Riyadh Governor Prince Salman and Minister of Information and Culture Dr. Fouad Al-Farsy welcomed our proposal and pledged their full support for the project,” Imthiaz Bakeer Markar, Sri Lanka’s minister of mass communication, told a press conference here.
The center would be located in Beruwala, where the Arabs built Masjidul Abraar, the first mosque in Sri Lanka, or Sailan, as it was then known. The mosque was declared a national monument by the Sri Lankan government this year.
The ministerial delegation was in Riyadh to meet Prince Salman, Dr. Al-Farsy, and Jameel Mulla, minister of communications and information technology.
During their five-day visit to the Kingdom the minister performed Umrah and visited the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
