Sri Lanka’s Ambassador designate to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Shanika Dissanayake presented open copies of her Letters of Credence to Secretary General Saja Majali at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan on 8 October 2019.
The Secretary General during the courtesy call conveyed her best wishes to the Ambassador designate for a successful tenure in Jordan, and expressed a desire to forge closer ties between the two countries with a view to increasing trade and economic cooperation. The Secretary General recalled the visit of the Hon. State Minister of Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayake to Jordan last year and stated that they look forward to an active exchange of visits between the two countries. She also commented on the valuable partnerships that both countries share in multilateral fora such as the Non Aligned Movement (NAM), the G 77 and in the UN which has added a special dimension to the bilateral engagement.
The Ambassador designate expressed her desire to commence Political Consultations between the two countries for a more structured dialogue and closer engagement which would be mutually beneficial. She underscored the importance of direct air connectivity between the two countries to further people to people contacts and expressed a desire to see the resumption of flights to Sri Lanka by Royal Jordanian airlines. Commenting that Sri Lanka had been ranked as no. 1 travel destination for 2019 by Lonely Planet, the Ambassador designate elaborated on the diversity of experiences that Jordanians could enjoy in Sri Lanka.
The Chief of Protocol Sami Ghosheh from the Jordanian Foreign Office and Second Secretary of the Sri Lanka Embassy Thilini Ihalage were associated with the meeting.