Vadivel Krishnamoorthy, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Riyadh, ushered in the country’s New Year on Tuesday wishing his fellow countrymen peace, harmony and happiness.

The envoy and his wife, Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, hosted the annual New Year celebrations at their residence in the presence of embassy staff and their family members.

Embassy officials’ children took part in various events lined for the evening, including traditional games such as tug-of-war and musical chairs.

Besides the sumptuous dinner, traditional sweets such as kevum, kokis, kiribath and mung kevum were also served in the evening, adding a festive touch to the evening.

Speaking further, the ambassador thanked his staff for their hard work in serving the people who visited the mission for various services.

“Such services are appreciated both by the government and the beneficiaries themselves,” he said.

There are some 450,000 Sri Lankans living in the Kingdom, which is the largest concentration of the island’s 1.5 million workers in the Middle East. The community has two schools in Jeddah and Riyadh and has a consulate general’s office in the Western Province.

In February, the embassy in Riyadh set up a 24-hour phone-in service to provide assistance to its distressed expatriate workers in the Kingdom.

The toll free number 8001180050 is a 24-hour helpline.

Krishnamoorthy said remittances from Lankan nationals working in the Middle East was estimated at $2.5 billion in 2010, adding that a “significant portion of the remittances comes from the 450,000 Sri Lankans working in the Kingdom.”

He said that Sri Lankans have earned a reputation as disciplined, honest and hard-working residents in the Kingdom.

Kishnamoorthy expressed his deep appreciation for the generous amnesty granted by Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah which gave undocumented expatriates the opportunity to respectfully exit the country and return to Sri Lanka or to rectify their status.

He said, “Over 100,000 expatriates had changed their professions and that approximately 15,000 Sri Lankans had left the Kingdom without facing any penalties.”

The amnesty, he added, has also enabled those who returned to Sri Lanka to reapply for jobs and return to the Kingdom in the future, benefiting both the Sri Lankan and Saudi Arabian labor markets.