COLOMBO : The High Post Committee of the parliament on Friday,March 1, has approved the appointment of Omar Lebbe Ameer Ajwad as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Ambassador designate Ajwad is a career diplomat who joined the Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS) in 1998. He is presently serving as the Additional Secretary in charge of the Consular Affairs, Africa Affairs, Performance Review & Implementation as well as the Emergency Response Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. He recently served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Sultanate of Oman with the concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Yemen (2019 – 2022).
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad’s diplomatic assignments entailed in Singapore as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Singapore with the concurrent accreditation to Brunei Darussalam (Actg.) (2018 – 2019), Deputy High Commission of Sri Lanka in Chennai, India (2011 – 2015), the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (2005 – 2009) and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Riyadh, KSA (2000 – 2003).
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, he served as the Head of Political Division covering the East Asia & Pacific Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 2015 – 2017. He also held several positions in the Ministry including in the Divisions of Economic Affairs, Legal Affairs, Bilateral, UN & Multilateral Affairs as well as Consular Affairs.
At the United Nations in Geneva, Amb. Ameer Ajwad had served as a “Coordinator/Spokesperson” of the Asian Group Human Rights Experts of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) during the Institution Building (IB) process of the UNHRC from 2007 – 2008. He had also chaired a formal Plenary Meeting of the UN Human Rights Council to negotiate a part of the Outcome Document of the UN Review Conference on the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) in 2008. He represented Sri Lanka at numerous International Conferences including the UN Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOC), the World Health Assembly (2007 &2008), World Meteorological Congress (2007), Council of the International Migration Organization (IOM) (2007 & 2008), ILO Governing Body (2007), International Labour Conference (2007 & 2008) and UN International Conference on Education (2008).
At the regional level, Amb. Ameer Ajwad has led the Sri Lanka delegation to the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the 24th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Manila in 2017. He represented Sri Lanka at the 23rd and 25th ASEAN Regional Forum meetings held in Laos in 2016 and in Singapore in 2018 respectively. He had served as the Desk Officer at the Foreign Ministry for the 4th and 5th Council of Ministers Meetings and other related meetings of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) hosted by Sri Lanka in the years 2003 and 2004 consecutively.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad holds a Master’s Degree in Laws (LL.M) from the University of Colombo. He also holds Bachelor’s Degree in Arts (BA) from the University of Peradeniya and a Bachelor’s Degree in Laws (LL.B) from the University of Colombo. He was admitted to the Bar as an Attorney- at- Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1997.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad was selected as the ‘Person of the Year 2021’ by the World Growth Forum Magazine (WGF) for creating “milestones in diplomacy and bilateral relations.” He was also awarded “Knight of Honour – Diplomacy Award” by AsiaOne International Business and News Magazine, in Singapore in 2019. Amb. Ajwad received “Sri Lanka Presidential National Youth Award” for both “Oratory and Essay Writing” in a single year in 1988. He was also a Radio Presenter of a “Youth Programme” in the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) from 1995 -1998.
He has recently authored a book titled: “Sri Lanka – Oman Relations: Past, Present and Future.” He speaks English, Arabic, Sinhala and Tamil.
