New Consul General 

Mohammed RASOOLDEEN in Saudi Arabia

SAUDI ARABIA: A.L.M. Lafir has been appointed new Consul General in Jeddah.

The embassy in Riyadh is still without a head following the departure of the former Ambassador A.M.J. Sadiq who left the Kingdom in early August following a transfer order from Colombo.

Lafir will assume duties early this week. He succeeds Masihudeen Inamullah, who left for Colombo on June 30 on completion of his duty in the Kingdom.

Lafir, who is the present director of Consular Affairs at the

Foreign Ministry, counts more than 14 years of experience in the island’s foreign service. He had also served in Kuwait, Canada, and Abu Dhabi. Prior to his transfer to Colombo, Lafir was the deputy chief of mission at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

A lawyer by profession, Lafir has won several awards in oratory during his career at the university and at the Law College. He had served the University as the Secretary of the Islamic Majlis and subsequently had also served the Law College Islamic Majlis as its vice president.

“I am thrilled to work in a place like Jeddah which is the commercial hub of the Kingdom,” Lafir told Daily News.

In addition to providing services to Haj and Umrah pilgrims to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Lafir hopes to expand the economic cooperation between the two countries. He said a large section of the 550,000 Sri Lankan expatriates in the Kingdom live in the Western province.

“I hope to do my best to serve my community as well as to develop cordial relations with the locals and other expatriates.

The deputy chief of mission at the Riyadh Embassy , W.S.M.S. Wijesundera, has taken over the station from the former ambassador, A.M.J. Sadiq who left the Kingdom early last month.

Wijesundera, who is the new charge d’ affairs of the mission, said that the outgoing envoy was unable to accept an invitation to a farewell tea party arranged by the embassy staff due the last-minute arrangements to leave the Kingdom.

Vikum Rajapaksa, president of the Sri Lankan Expatriates Society (SLES) in Riyadh told Daily News that the outgoing envoy also turned down a similar request for a farewell reception by the society.