OMAR LEBBE AMEER AJWAD
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mr. Omar Lebbe Ameer Ajwad is currently serving as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is a career diplomat with 26 years of experience in the Sri Lanka Diplomatic Service. Prior to his appointment as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he served as the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka in charge of the Ministry’s Action Planning, Implementation, & Performance Review including Bilateral Treaties; Political Affairs (Africa Region); Consular Affairs; as well as Emergency Response Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. He has also served as the head of Policy Planning, Research & Human Resources Development as well as Overseas Administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as the Chairperson of the Working Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the implementation of “Integrated Capacity Building Approach for Organizational Digital Government Transformation” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad has served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Sultanate of Oman with the concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Yemen from 2019 to 2022. He also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Singapore (Actg.) (2018 – 2019) with the concurrent accreditation to Brunei Darussalam.
His diplomatic assignments also entailed in the Deputy the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Chennai, India (2011 – 2015), the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (2005 – 2009) and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Riyadh, KSA (2000 – 2003). He has held several positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo covering Economic Affairs, Legal Affairs, UN & Multilateral Affairs, Middle East & Africa Affairs, and Consular Affairs.
At bilateral level, he was the head of bilateral Political Affairs Division (East Asia & Pacific Region including ASEAN) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 2015 – 2017. He has also co-chaired the first ever Sri Lanka – Japan Policy Dialogue held at Senior Official level between the Foreign Ministries of Sri Lanka and Japan in Colombo in January 2016. He was a member of Sri Lanka delegation of a number of State and Official visits undertaken by the Heads of State of Sri Lanka.
At the multilateral level, Ambassador Ameer Ajwad, during his stint in Geneva, has served as a “Coordinator/Spokesperson” of the Asian Group Human Rights Experts of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) during the Institution Building (IB) process of the UNHRC from 2007 – 2008. He had a unique opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the 62nd and the Final Session of the former UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in March 2006 as well as at the First Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the successor of the UNCHR, held in June 2006. He represented Sri Lanka as a founding member of the UNHRC at its first 9 Regular Sessions and 10 Special Sessions in Geneva from 2007 to 2009. He was a member of high level Sri Lanka delegation to the First Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Sri Lanka held in Geneva in 2008.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad has chaired a Plenary Meeting of the UNHRC to negotiate a part of the Outcome Document of the UN Review Conference on the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) in 2008. He has served in the Bureau of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) representing the Vice-President of the Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2008. (Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva served as the Vice-President of the HRC representing Asia for the year 2008).
He has also represented Sri Lanka at numerous United Nations’ International Conferences including the UN Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOC), the World Health Assembly, World Meteorological Congress, Council of the International Migration Organization (IOM), ILO Governing Body, International Labour Conference and UN International Conference on Education.
At the regional level, Ambassador Ameer Ajwad has led the Sri Lanka delegation to the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the 24th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Manila in 2017. He represented Sri Lanka at the 23rd and 25th ASEAN Regional Forum meetings held in Laos in 2016 and in Singapore in 2018 respectively. He has also served as the Desk Officer of the Ministry of Foreign for the 4th and 5th Council of Ministers’ Meetings and other related meetings of the then Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) hosted by Sri Lanka in the years 2003 and 2004 consecutively. He was also a member of the first ever Sri Lanka Presidential delegation to attend the G7 Summit Outreach Session held in Ise- Shima, Japan in May 2016.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad has participated at many regional and international forums and workshops covering a wide range of areas including Counter-Proliferation Security Initiative, IISS Shangri-la dialogue, Preventive Diplomacy, Mediation, Cohesive Societies, Environmental Cooperation, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Migration Law, as well as Trade and International Economic Negotiations that were held in different parts of the world. He is also an alumnus of the participants at the international programme on ‘Dealing with the Past’ (Transitional Justice) hosted by the Government of Switzerland in May 2023.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad holds a Master’s Degree in Laws (LL.M) from the University of Colombo offering Human Rights Law, Private International Law and International Commercial Arbitration Law as subjects. He submitted an academic thesis titled: “Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council as an Effective Monitoring Mechanism: Prospects and Challenges” to fulfill his Master’s Degree in Laws at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo.
He also holds Bachelor’s Degree in Arts (BA) from the University of Peradeniya and a Bachelor’s Degree in Laws (LL.B) from the University of Colombo. He was admitted to the Sri Lankan Bar as an Attorney- at- Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1997.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad has served as a member of many National Committees established by the Government of Sri Lanka including National Committee for Official Languages Policy Implementation (NCOLPI) of Sri Lanka, National Advisory Committee on Migration for Employment (NACME), and the Executive Committee of the National Disaster Management Coordination Committee (NDMCC) of Sri Lanka. In 2004, he had served as Coordinator representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Centre for National Operations (CNO) for the Disaster Management (Task Force), established by the President of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of tsunami which devastated Sri Lanka in 2004. He has also served as a member of the Board of Management of Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (ex-officio).
He was also a visiting Lecturer at the National Defence College of Sri Lanka (NDC) and a Guest Lecturer at the Bandaranaike Institute for Diplomatic Training (BIDITI) as well as Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS).
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad was selected as the ‘Person of the Year 2021’ by the World Growth Forum Magazine (WGF) for creating “milestones in diplomacy and bilateral relations.” He was also awarded “Knight of Honour – Diplomacy Award” by AsiaOne International Business and News Magazine, in Singapore in 2019. Ambassador Ameer Ajwad received “Sri Lanka Presidential National Youth Award” for both “Oratory and Essay Writing” in a single year in 1988. He was also a Radio Presenter of a “Youth Programme” in the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) from 1995 -1998.
Ambassador Ameer Ajwad recently authored and published a book on international relations titled: “Sri Lanka – Oman Relations: Past, Present and Future.” He speaks English, Arabic, Sinhala and Tamil languages. He is married with three children, a girl and two boys.