The new Sri Lankan ambassador designate to the Kingdom, Vadivel Krishnamoorthy, is slated to arrive in the Kingdom May 20, sources from the Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs told Arab News.

 

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed the confirmation of the appointment of Krishnamoorthy to its embassy in Colombo last week.

 

The Colombo government asked the former ambassador in Saudi Arabia to return to Colombo upon completion of his tour of duty in the Kingdom following the execution of Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek on Jan. 9 for killing a four-month old infant in Dawadmi.

 

Accordingly, Jawad returned to Colombo on Jan. 27, a week before the country’s independence day celebrations began in the Kingdom.

 

Sources from Colombo told Arab News that Krishnamoorthy has been personally hand-picked by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for this important region to strengthen bilateral relations between the Kingdom and Sri Lanka.

 

The new envoy is scheduled to meet President Rajapaksa prior to his departure to the Kingdom.

 

Krishnamoorthy is a senior career diplomat who is currently attached to the External Affairs Ministry as its director general for South-East Asia and SAARC.

 

His last overseas posting was as deputy high commissioner for Sri Lanka in Chennai, South India. He succeeded Ambassador P.M. Amza, who completed his three-year posting here and moved to London as deputy high commissioner and now the island’s ambassador in Brussels.

 

Krishnamoorthy had earlier served as high commissioner at Dhaka, Bangladesh, and has completed his three-year term before being cross-posted for Chennai.

 

He hails from Nuwara-Eliya (known as “little London”), was schooled at the prestigious Hatton Highlands College and holds a degree from the University of Peradeniya. He then went on to earn a post-graduate diploma in educational management and a Master of Arts in foreign affairs and trade from Monash University in Australia.

 

Krishnamoorthy has over 33 years of experience in public service, which includes more than 20 years in foreign service, having served in a wide range of posts. He was in Bangladesh between 2006 and 2009. Prior to that, he served as director-general of the UN and the Multilateral Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two years between 2004 and 2006. He also attended the 60th United Nations General Assembly Session in New York and the Board of Governors Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

 

Krishnamoorthy had earlier served in The Netherlands between 2001- 2004 and in China between 1992- 1997. While serving as the minister counsellor at the Embassy in The Netherlands (inter alia), he functioned as the deputy permanent representative to the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

 

He had also served as director of the East Asia desk, deputy chief of Protocol between 1999 and 2001, assistant director of the west desk in 1992 and director of the Sri Lankan Institute of International Relations (2004-06).

 

He is married and has two daughters. He speaks Tamil, Sinhala, English and Chinese.

 

Sri Lanka set up its embassy in Jeddah in 1983 with Dickman De Alwis as its first charge d’affaires.

 

Subsequently, in 1993, the Saudi government reciprocated with a mission in Colombo, with Abdullah Al-Zahrani as its charge d’affaires. The Lankan embassy later moved its location to the capital in 1985.

 

Former ambassadors include the late M.R.M.Thassim, the late A.L.M.Hashim, the late Cader Markar, Izzat Ahamed, Javid Yusuf, Nowfel Saleh Jabir, Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, A.M.J.Sadiq, the late A. A. M. Marleen and Jawad, who left in late January, Arab News reports.