President to visit UAE seeking fuel aid

Sri Lanka is now making every effort to cement diplomatic ties with West Asia with the aim of obtaining assistance to avert the critical fuel crisis in the country.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to visit the UAE soon to further strengthen friendly relations between the two countries and to lobby for the importation of fuel directly from oil producing countries in the Gulf specially UAE and Qatar.

This was announced by former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage when he appeared at a media conference for the first time after the May 9 attack on GotaGoGama protesters at Galle Face green in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan President’s official visit to UAE the first by a head of state after two decades is yet to be confirmed by the Presidential Secretariat as there was no official communique issued by the media division.

Under this set up Sri Lanka has sought a credit line from Qatar for fuel and gas when Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera met with the Deputy Director General (DDG) of the Qatar Fund for Development on Tuesday.

He tweeted that he discussed a possible credit line facility for petroleum and gas and the DDG has informed that funds has been allocated for medical supplies and will consider the request for a credit facility and support the IMF programme.

The confirmation of the Credit line facility should come from Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and CEO of Qatar Energy.

The Qatar Development Fund is the sole authority in granting such financial facilities for foreign countries.

It has granted US$ 300 million to a local fund for the welfare of children of poor families in the East. This money had been confiscated by the authorities following Easter attack investigations creating displeasure among Qatari authorities, local media reported at that time. (Bandula)