Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe has met with Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, the Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), on the sidelines of the OPEC Fund Development Forum in Vienna, Austria.

In a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), he said the discussion centered on strengthening partnerships, focusing on economic support and new development initiatives to bolster Sri Lanka’s economy.

The Saudi Fund for Development is a Saudi Arabian government agency that provides development assistance to developing countries by financing social and infrastructure projects. 

State Minister Semasinghe said he also had a meeting with Waleed Sh. A. Albahar, the acting Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab and economic Development (KFAED), on the sidelines of the forum.

“We discussed the progress of the economy and strengthening our partnership,” he tweeted.

Semasinghe addressed the OPEC Fund Development Forum on June 25 in Vienna, Austria. The forum is attended by 125 partner countries, multilateral development banks, global development institutions and prominent private sector players to exchange insights and drive concrete action under the overarching theme of “Driving Resilience & Equity”.

The State Minister is accompanied by Mr. Mahinda Siriwardana, Secretary to the Treasury/Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies.