Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ameer Ajwad, met with Secretary-General of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), Deemah AlYahya, on 27 July at the DCO headquarters in Riyadh to explore avenues of collaboration in the digital economy sector.
During the meeting, Ambassador Ajwad and Secretary-General AlYahya held wide-ranging discussions focused on leveraging digital cooperation to unlock transformative opportunities for Sri Lanka. Secretary-General AlYahya, who also serves as the first Saudi woman to lead an international organization, emphasized Sri Lanka’s readiness to play a strategic role in the digital innovation ecosystem due to its strong commitment to a people-centric and globally oriented digital transformation agenda.
Ambassador Ajwad highlighted the establishment of a dedicated Ministry for Digital Economy in Sri Lanka—headed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe—as a testament to the country’s strategic shift toward digitization. He briefed the DCO on the ongoing National Digital Economy Strategy, which aims to boost e-governance, digital trade, and startup development.
As part of the engagement, Ambassador Ajwad extended a formal invitation to the Secretary-General to attend Disrupt Asia 2025, Sri Lanka’s flagship startup conference and innovation festival, scheduled to be held in Colombo from 17 to 20 September. The invitation, issued by Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, underscores Sri Lanka’s commitment to becoming a regional hub for digital innovation.
Both parties agreed to build on the meeting’s productive outcomes by fostering deeper cooperation, including partnerships in policy formulation, digital capacity-building, and sharing of technical expertise.
Secretary-General AlYahya was joined by DCO Director for Stakeholders and Strategic Engagements Farid Aghamaliyev, Digital Ecosystem and Partnerships Specialist Mohammed Altai, and other senior officials. Ambassador Ajwad was accompanied by Minister and Head of Chancery Mohammed Anas, and First Secretary (Commerce) Tashma Vithanawasam.
The meeting signals a promising step toward advancing Sri Lanka’s global digital engagement through strategic multilateral cooperation.
