Minister of Sports and Youth, Minister of Development Co-ordination and Monitoring & State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa who undertook a two-day official visit to Kenya was accorded warm welcome and high protocol courtesies on arrival at the Airside of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on 7 October, 2021. Minister Namal was accompanied by State Minister for Aviation and Development of Export Zones D.V. Chanaka. The Ministers were received at the airport by the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Kenya Kananathan and a group of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs based in Kenya.
On the first day of his official programme on 8 October, 2021, Minister Namal Rajapaksa jointly with the Kenyan Minister for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala inaugurated the Passenger Service Agent’s office of the Sri Lankan Airlines in Nairobi. While addressing the guests, Minister Namal Rajapaksa said that the direct air connectivity was crucial to unlock a country’s economic growth potential, to enable it to attract trade, investment, tourism and people to people contact. He expressed the hope that air connectivity and the Passenger Service Agent’s office of Sri Lankan Airlines in Nairobi will facilitate the efforts being taken by High Commissioner Kananathan to promote bilateral economic relations between the two countries.
Minister Balala proposed in his address that Kenya and Sri Lanka should enter into a bilateral arrangement to formalise capacity building and other exchange programmes in tourism and wildlife management.
