Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath began an official visit to the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, a two-day trip focused on deepening bilateral cooperation, Ada Derana reported.
The visit runs from September 2 to September 3.
Who he is meeting
Herath is scheduled to meet several UAE ministers. Two were named:
- Dr. Abdulrahman Abdulmannan Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation
- Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism
On Thursday he will take part in the second edition of the “Sri Lanka Beyond Your Dreams” event in Dubai, appearing alongside Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Trade.
The itinerary was set out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism.
The schedule tracks the portfolio
The three UAE ministers named map closely onto Herath’s own combined brief. His ministry covers foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism; his counterparts hold labour, economy and tourism, and foreign trade.
That pairing matters more in the UAE than in most postings. The Emirates is one of the largest destinations for Sri Lankan migrant labour, which makes the human resources and Emiratisation portfolio — Emiratisation being the UAE’s programme of raising the share of citizens in its private-sector workforce — directly relevant to Sri Lankan workers’ access to that market.
What has not been reported
Ada Derana did not say what agreements, if any, are to be signed, whether the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is on the agenda, or what the first edition of “Sri Lanka Beyond Your Dreams” achieved.
No other verified newsroom had carried the visit at the time of writing, and neither the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry’s website nor the UAE state news agency returned a retrievable release on it.
Context
Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at around US$1.5 billion when the UAE ambassador met Trade Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe in Colombo in May. At that point the UAE was Sri Lanka’s seventh-largest export destination and third-largest import partner, and the two sides were discussing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement alongside Abu Dhabi Ports’ interest in Colombo and Trincomalee, plus aviation cooperation and aircraft maintenance work for SriLankan Airlines.
The tourism half of the brief comes as arrivals soften. Sri Lanka recorded 191,704 arrivals in August, and the cumulative total for the year is running behind 2025.
