Please see below a copy of the speech by Her Excellency Saroja Sirisena together with her profile.
Sri Lanka being a founding member of the Commonwealth, attaches a great deal of importance to the values of the Commonwealth family and the close cooperation, solidarity and the unique Commonwealth spirit that it has created among its members.
The Commonwealth is the crystallisation of commonalities of 54 countries, and it has thereby created a solid foundation that has been in existence for over 7 decades. This makes the Commonwealth a natural launch pad of Global Britain which Sri Lanka could be a significant partner from Asia.
Saroja Sirisena, was appointed Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in March 2020
Immediately prior to this she served as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Austria with concurrent accreditation to the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Servia & Bosnia & Herzegovina and the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations & International Organisations in Vienna.
Her posts in Sri Lanka include Director General of Public Communications & Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director General Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director General for External Relations of the Ministry of Economic Development, Director South Asia and Director Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Her overseas posts include Consul General of Sri Lanka in Mumbai, Minister of Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office, Minister Counsellor of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Brussels, First Secretary of Sri Lanka Embassy in Paris and in Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to UNESCO.
She is an officer of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service batch of 1998.
She was born in Colombo and studied at Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo and represented the school in track and field events. She is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, Australia and the Ēcole National d’ Administration, France.
She is married to Dr. Sudath Talpahewa, a General Practitioner in the United Kingdom, speaks French, enjoys yoga, working out, cooking and playing the piano.
