The Embassy of Sri Lanka organized ‘An Evening with Swedish Friends of Sri Lanka’ on 29 August 2019. The event was attended by an enthusiastic group of Swedes who are familiar with Sri Lanka. Some of them are professionals who worked in early 1980’s in Swedish-funded development projects including construction of the Kotmale Dam while the others are business owners, travel agents and consultants.
The purpose of the friendship group is to renew and strengthen the ties they had with Sri Lanka and to develop a network for promoting business interests in ICT, cleantech and tourism sectors. The event was inaugurated with an address by the Ambassador Sudantha Ganegama Arachchi, expressing his gratitude to the participants for being partners with the Embassy initiative to form a Swedish friendship group. Ambassador Ganegama Arachchi requested the participants to spread the word about their deep attachment to Sri Lanka and to encourage their friends to travel to Sri Lanka. He also described the vast potential in Sri Lanka for Swedish investors, and requested the participants to consider Sri Lanka not only as a travel destination but also as an emerging business hub in the Indian Ocean. The Ambassador recalled the generous contributions from Sweden to assist the victims of Easter Sunday attacks and thanked the donors who were present at the event.
During his address, Secretary General of the Sweden Sri Lanka Business Council Leif Ohlson also stressed the importance of deepening engagements with Sri Lanka through business networking.
The Embassy intends to have regular interactions with the group via emails and social media platforms to promote Sri Lanka interests in Sweden.
The event concluded with a raffle draw and a dinner reception.
