COLOMBO: The new leadership of the Saudi-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Association vowed on Saturday to take bilateral ties to the next level by focusing on people-to-people connections that have been boosted by the Kingdom’s focus on tourism.

Established in Riyadh in 2002, the parliamentary association aims to strengthen relations between Sri Lanka’s MPs and Saudi Shoura councilors in all fields of cooperation.

Environment Minister Naseer Ahamed, who was elected as the association’s new president on May 10, told Arab News he will focus on economic, political, social and cultural issues during his tenure.

“I look at the need for stronger relations in the larger context of the Middle East and South Asia region and geopolitical priorities,” he said. “I hope to take that to the next level.”

Ahamed, a graduate of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, has ties with the Kingdom going back decades. He entered Sri Lankan politics in the 1990s and has served as a member of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, a presidential adviser, and chief minister of Eastern Province.

In April last year, he was appointed to lead the Ministry of Environment and oversee Middle Eastern affairs.

Ahamed said that he prioritizes the importance of people-to-people relations in establishing stronger ties between countries.

“Our mission is to develop people-to-people contact. This can be done more easily now since Saudi Arabia has opened up for tourists,” he said, referring to the Kingdom’s huge investment in tourism infrastructure under Vision 2030.

The last time a Saudi Shoura delegation visited Sri Lanka was in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.

Ahamed said that he was planning to increase interaction between the parliamentary association’s members for the sake of new collaborations between their countries.

“There are several areas where the two countries could develop new areas of cooperation,” he said. “The association will provide the necessary platform to extend areas of cooperation to new fields of interests.”