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Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar will visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on an official visit for high level political talks early next week, Lankan ambassador in the Kingdom, Nowfel Saly Jabir said. This is the first visit of a Lankan Foreign Minister to the Kingdom during the past two decades. In the early eighties, the late foreign minister A. C. S. Hameed visited Jeddah. Sources said that Minister Kadirgamar will meet King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and head of the National Guard, Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al Asaf and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al Nuaimi. Kadirgamar is also expected to participate in the Independence Day celebrations organised by the Sri Lankan mission in Saudi. The mission has made arrangements to hold the function at the Riyadh Sheraton Hotel. Ambassador Jabir said the Minister's visit would open a new chapter in Saudi-Sri Lanka ties. Jabir said the Minister would discuss with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al Faisal, the establishment of a Joint Commission between the two countries. Such a body will enhance co-operation between the two countries. Kadirgamar is also slated to address Saudi businessmen in the capital at the Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Saudi Arabia employs the highest number of Sri Lankans in the region. There are 250,000 Lankan workers, out of the 600,000 employed in the Middle East. The Kingdom also consumes a large percentage of Sri Lankan tea and imports garments, spices, fresh fruits, vegetables and ornamental fish. Sri Lanka imports oil and petrochemical products from Saudi Arabia.
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