The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Nigeria Thambirajah Raveenthiran, concurrently accredited as Ambassador to Ivory Coast presented his credentials to President Alassane Ouattare of the Ivory Coast, at a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan.
The Ambassador conveyed the greetings of the President and the people of Sri Lanka to the President and the people of Ivory Coast. In response, the President of Ivory Coast requested the Ambassador to convey his wishes to his Sri Lankan counterpart and the people of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan envoy availed himself of this opportunity to apprise the President of Ivory Coast of the steady progress Sri Lanka is making towards economic prosperity. The Ambassador thanked the President for the support that Ivory Coast has extended to Sri Lanka in all international fora in the past.
President Ouattare remarked that he had heard a great deal about Sri Lanka and its remarkable achievements in social development when he was attached to the IMF as an economist.
The President of the Ivory Coast, while expressing satisfaction on the overall state of bilateral relations between the Ivory Coast and Sri Lanka, stressed the need to further strengthen economic relations and people-to-people contacts.
This was the first time that a Sri Lankan Ambassador presented credentials in the Ivory Coast.