Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russian Federation Shobini Gunasekera assumes duties

Saturday, 22 February 2025 00:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ambassador Shobini Gunasekera

Ambassador-designate of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation, Shobini Gunasekera assumed duties at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Moscow on 19 February. The occasion also coincided with the 68th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation.

Ambassador Gunasekera is a career diplomat with over 27 years of experience in diplomacy including various assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Missions abroad.

Addressing the staff of the Embassy, Ambassador Gunasekera emphasised the time-tested enduring relations between Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation and underlined the strengths and potential to further consolidate the long-standing and friendly bilateral partnership in multiple spheres including political, economic, education, culture, science and people to people ties. She also underscored the need to think fresh and work proactively to support the three main pillars of the Government of Sri Lanka: eradication of poverty, digital economy and the “Clean Sri Lanka” initiative.

Ambassador Gunasekera joined the Sri Lanka Foreign service in 1998 and served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Assistant Director, Economic Affairs from July 1998 to February 2001; as Deputy Director, Legal Affairs from March 2004 to February 2008; as Acting Director General, East Asia and the Pacific from March 2011 to June 2014; as Director General Economic, Affairs from August 2017 to January 2018; as Director General, European Union, Commonwealth and Multilateral Treaties from January 2018 to January 2019; as Director General of both UN and the Legal Divisions simultaneously from January 2019 to August 2019, and as Director General of Europe and North America from January 2023 to February 2025.

In her diplomatic career, she served as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Philippines from September 2019 to December 2022. The Ambassador’s diplomatic assignments abroad also include working in the Embassy of Sri Lanka in France as the Minister (Deputy Chief of Mission) from June 2014 to August 2017, in the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing as the Minister Counsellor from April 2007 to March 2011, in the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels as the First Secretary from February 2001 to April 2004.

Ambassador Gunasekera holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the University of Colombo. She was admitted to the Bar as an Attorney-at-Law in 1994. She is a past pupil of Musaeus College, Colombo.

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