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Major overhaul of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad
View(s):A major overhaul of the heads of Sri Lankan diplomatic missions abroad will come into effect in the next 30 days and new ambassadors have already been handpicked to key embassies abroad. These include New Delhi, Washington DC, Chennai, Tokyo, Beijing and Ottawa.
Meanwhile, several retired diplomats who are over 60 years and heading embassies overseas have been summoned back by October 4 — i.e one month’s notice from when they were recalled. They include Kshenuka Senewiratne, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Asoka Girihagama in Ottawa, Sudanthaka Ganegamarachchi in Stockholm, Damayanthi Rajapaksa in Cairo, A.L. Ratnapala in Havana and Sumith Nakandala in The Hague. Sumith Nakandala will be given time till October 22 when he turns 60.
Rodney Perera, Sri Lanka’s envoy to the United States, at the unveiling of a Buddha statue at the embassy on Wednesday
Ravinatha Aryasinha, who was last month replaced as Foreign Secretary by Admiral Jayanath Colombage, will head the mission in Washington DC, USA. Incumbent ambassador Rodney Perera will likely return to the ministry in Colombo. He took charge of the Washington mission after it remained without an ambassador for almost two years during the Yahapalana Government. Kshanika Hirimburegama, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo and professor of Botany, will be posted to Ottawa, Canada as High Commissioner.
Meanwhile, Palitha Kohonna, a former Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will head the mission in Beijing, China. He was at one-time Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN. Milinda Moragoda, who held several ministerial posts in the past in both UNP and UPFA governments, will be the envoy to New Delhi, India. The Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai will be V.K. Walsan, a one-time Ambassador to Sweden. He also served in Chennai previously as deputy high commissioner.
Sanjiv Gunasekera, a resident of Los Angeles, USA will be the next ambassador to Tokyo. He is the founder and CEO of Sunland Group of Companies, a real estate conglomerate based in California. He is a grandson of former ambassador to Rome (1963-65) and Accra (1970-73) Loranie Seneviratne.
Sanjiv Gunasekera
The Presidential Secretariat issued a statement on Thursday urging those who are protesting the appointment of certain individuals by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to refrain from doing so. The statement says these appointments have been made after careful scrutiny of loyalty to the nation, qualifications and background of individuals and taking into consideration the country’s sovereignty, national security and implementation of the ‘Saubhaygya Dekma’ policy statement of the new government.
“Expressing opinions against his appointments will weaken the Government’s process by underestimating them in the society,” the statement adds.