H.E. Esala Ruwan Weerakoon of Sri Lanka assumed office of the Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on 01 March 2020.  

 

Prior to assuming the post of Secretary General, Weerakoon served as Senior Additional Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka. Previously, he was Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka. He had also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Norway.

 

During his diplomatic career spanning over 30 years, Weerakoon served as Sri Lanka’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington DC; Chargé d’Affaires in Japan; and Deputy High Commissioner to Australia. His diplomatic postings included assignments in different capacities in Sri Lanka’s Missions in the United Kingdom, France, Malaysia and Seychelles. He joined the Sri Lanka Foreign Service as a probationer in 1988.

 

Apart from working in different Divisions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Weerakoon served as Secretary, Ministry of Tourism Development; Additional Secretary, Ministry of Economic Development; and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing.

 

Weerakoon was educated at Royal College, Colombo. He studied economics at the University of Kelaniya and undertook post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics.