Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrives in Sri Lanka

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Sri Lanka on a one day visit, Wednesday, and was welcomed at the Mattala airport by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Raisinis is in Sri Lanka in response to a special invitation extended by President Ranil Wickremasinghe, marking the first visit of an Iranian President to Sri Lanka since former President Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit in April 2008.

During his one-day official visit, President Raisi will participate in a public ceremony marking the inauguration of the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project (UOMDP) scheduled for Wednesday morning.

This project, following the Mahaweli Development Project, is one of the largest irrigation projects in Sri Lanka.

A highlight of President Raisi’s visit will be the signing of five MoUs aimed at bolstering bilateral relations between Iran and Sri Lanka.

The ceremony, chaired by the presidents of Iran and Sri Lanka, will symbolize the cooperation between the two nations in this significant infrastructure endeavour.

The Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project (UOMDP) is a significant endeavour of utmost importance to Sri Lanka. Its primary objective is to alleviate water scarcity in the southeastern dry region of the country by redirecting an annual average of 145 million cubic meters (MCM) of excess water from the Uma Oya basin to the Kirindi Oya basin.