New Lankan envoy to Qatar named

VIJAYASIRI Padukkage, a career diplomat, is to replace S B Atugoda as the next ambassador of Sri Lanka in Doha.
Atugoda, who relinquished duty this week as the envoy, left Doha on Monday at the end of his three-year tenure. He has been the ambassador in Doha since April 2005.
Padukkage, 50, is currently the acting director-general of United Nations Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs. Earlier, he has served as minister counsellor at the permanent mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, in New York. He is expected to arrive in Doha in about a month.
During the tenure of Atugoda, a career diplomat, he worked hard to improve the bilateral relations between Qatar and Sri Lanka. Also, the profile of the Sri Lankan expatriates in Qatar changed from that of unskilled workers to skilled workers and professionals.
The strength of the community grew rapidly to the current count of 130,000.
His tenure also saw the formation of an umbrella federation uniting all the community social organisations in Qatar. All the disparate bodies now come under the Sri Lankan Co-ordinating Committee.
Also during his tenure, Sri Lankan construction companies won several contracts to build houses in Qatar, said A Dharmakulasingham, the charge d’affaires at the embassy. These contracts amounted to up to $300mn.
Dharmakulasingham, who came to Doha last month, replaced A G Abeysekara, who has returned to Colombo. Abeysekara, who went back to the foreign ministry, had been in Qatar since March 2005.
Both Atugoda and Abeysekara were given a fond farewell by the community last month. They said they had enjoyed their stay in Qatar and had immensely gained from their experience here.