A Sri Lankan delegation headed by State Minister of Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasooriya and State Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification Priyankara Jayarathna recently visited the State of Qatar to explore employment opportunities there for Lankans.

The following is the text of a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry: “The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Doha organised a series of meetings for the Sri Lankan delegation headed by two State Ministers. The delegation met with the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs of Qatar Yousuf Mohamed Al Othman Fakhroo. During the meeting, the parties discussed the potential employment opportunities after 2022 FIFA World Cup and beyond that.

The Sri Lankan delegation had a meeting with Director of the International Co-operation Department and the Chairman of National Anti-Terrorism Committee Maj. General Abdulaziz A. Alansari, and Director General of the Department of Passport and Expatriates Affairs of the Ministry of Interior Brigadier Mohamed Ahamed Al-Ateeq. The discussion focused on reviving the operations of the Qatar Visa Centre (QVC) located in Colombo and the pragmatic approaches to enhance the service provided by QVC. During the discussions, the MoI outlined the scheduled official visit of the delegation consisting officials from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs of the State of Qatar (MADLSA) and the Ministry of Interior to Colombo in order to evaluate the QVC operational module with a view to enhance the same.

The Lankan delegation also had a fruitful discussion with Director of LULU Group in Qatar Dr. Mohamed Althaf Musliam Veetil. During the discussions, the necessity to boost long-standing trade relations between Lulu Group and Sri Lanka was highlighted.

The Embassy arranged productive meetings with a number of major recruitment agencies in the State of Qatar and the Sri Lankan Bank representatives based in Doha. During the meeting with the Sri Lankan Bank representatives, it was discussed the methodologies to overcome the current challenges encountered with the unauthorised remittance transactions being channeled through informal means.

SriLanka’s Ambassador in  Quatar, M. Mafaz Mohideen took part in the meetings with the delegation headed by State Minister Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasooriya and State Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification Priyankara Jayarathna. Director General of the State Ministry of Regional Cooperation Savitri Panabokke, Assistant Director of the State Ministry of Regional Cooperation W.W.C.S. Perera, Chairman of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Deputy General Manager of SLBFE Priyantha Senanayake, and Directors of the Board of the SLBFE Buddhi Pradeep Niyadandupola, Hematha Sapumohotti, and Mohamed Arshad formed the rest of the delegation.”