THE High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Malaysia Ahmed Jamaldeen Mohamed Muzammil conveyed his hope of strengthening bilateral ties with Malaysia when he paid a courtesy visit to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow at the latter’s office this morning.
“This year marks 60 years of diplomatic relationship between Malaysia and Sri Lanka but in fact, our relationship goes beyond that. Malaysia has a large population of Sri Lankans who have migrated here more than 100 years ago.
“After 30 years of war which had crippled the country and now we are bouncing back upon the formation of the new government which took place in 2015.
“Sri Lanka and Malaysia share some similarity in terms of the multi-ethnic people with different faiths and we give utmost respect to the diversity of cultures, ethnic and religion in our country. We are now working towards enhancing the unity among our nationals,” said Ahmed during his visit.
Ahmed noted a big number of Sri Lankan tourists visit Malaysia but not the other way round and he wishes that the Malaysian government will help to promote more tourists from Malaysia to Sri Lanka.
“We hope that Sri Lanka tourism can be promoted here in Malaysia as you know a lot of Sri Lankan tourists are coming here but not the other way round. So, we also would like to enhance the relationship between Malaysia and Sri Lanka in terms of tourism.
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner also told Chow of his desire to appoint an honorary Sri Lankan consul to Penang to forge closer ties between Penang and Sri Lanka and requested the chief minister to nominate the suitable candidates for the position.
Responding to the request, Chow stated that he will look into the matter and will come up with several names which meet the requirements for the position.
Ahmed also took the opportunity to invite Chow to visit Sri Lanka and presented souvenirs to him as a token of friendship.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud