Ministry of Finance official Mansour Al-Yousef handed the consignment at a simple ceremony at the Saudi Embassy in Colombo on Friday to Abdul Hameed Mohammed Fowzie, Sri Lankan senior minister for urban affairs, in the presence of Farouk Mohamed Wazeer Ali, charge d’affaires of the mission.
Others present included Abdul Hameed Mohammed Azwer, Muslim parliamentarian; Y. L. M. Navavi, director of the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs; and Hashim Omar, director of Independent Television Network.
Ali said this was a regular donation the Kingdom had been giving to Sri Lanka for several years.
"We have been maintaining close relations with Sri Lankan Muslims and other community members in a friendly manner," he said.
Fowzie said: "We are happy that the dates gifted by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will be freely consumed by Muslims during their iftar (breaking of the fast). Those Muslims will always pray for prosperity in the Kingdom and the longevity of King Abdullah."
Fowzie added that plans were under way to distribute these dates at all mosques throughout the country.
Some 2,000 mosques are spread throughout Sri Lanka and around 8 percent of the country’s 21 million population is Muslim.
The minister said the Kingdom has helped Sri Lankan in good and bad times. "Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia funded 500 houses for tsunami victims at a cost of SR2 million. It was also with Saudi assistance that we completed a SR75 million epilepsy and diagnosis hospital in Colombo, the first of its kind in Sri Lanka," he said.
"This is not the first time that the Kingdom has come forward to assist the island in such projects. We have built a neurological-trauma hospital in Colombo," he added.
He said the Saudi Fund For Development (SFD) gave an additional grant of SR11 million for the development of health facilities at the hospital, which was built with Saudi aid of SR40 million.
Following the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka in 2004, the Kingdom immediately sent eight flights with relief materials and pledged to construct houses for survivors of the disaster.
