Tuesday Nov 19, 2024
Tuesday Nov 19, 2024
Friday, 20 September 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Saudi Arabia, Azmi Thassim, recently called on Saudi Space Commission Chairman Prince Sultan Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at his office.
During this cordial meeting, the Ambassador explained to Prince Sultan Sri Lanka’s recent achievements with space technology, including the recent launch of the Raavana-1 micro satellite. He expressed Sri Lanka’s willingness to extending bilateral cooperation in space technology and underlined that this technological cooperation would be beneficial for both countries.
Prince Sultan, while affectionately recalling his close collaboration with the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke and his visit to the Kingdom in 1988, stated that Sir Clarke remained one of his guiding lights in space technology. He also mentioned that since the establishment of the Saudi Space Agency, the Kingdom’s focus has been on developing potential in the field by collaborating with nations such as Sri Lanka on space science.
The two sides agreed to explore avenues for collaboration while Prince Sultan expressed his wishes to send an expert technical team to Sri Lanka to further discuss this subject with his counterparts.
Prince Sultan is the first Saudi Arabian national and Muslim to fly to space when he was part of the American STS-51-G Discovery Space Shuttle mission in 1985.
Minister Counsellor Madhuka Wickramarachchi, Second Secretary Fazil Farook and Bilateral Affairs Desk Officer Abdul Latif Jabeer accompanied the Ambassador to the meeting.
