Sri Lanka seeks vigorous promotion of trade and investment with Indonesia

Sri Lanka is to seek vigorous promotion of trade and investment with Indonesia.

The newly appointed Ambassador-designate of Sri Lanka to Indonesia, Sashikala Premawardhane officially assumed duties at the Mission on Friday.

Her assumption of duties was marked by a simple ceremony that began with religious observances by the religious representatives from Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam & Christianity.  

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador-designate Sashikala Premawardhane set out her plans for strengthening bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and emphasised the need for vigorous promotion of trade and investment between the two countries.

Ambassador-designate Premawardhane served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Singapore from June 2019 to September 2023. Prior to arriving in Indonesia, she served as the Additional Secretary, Political Affairs (East) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Employment & Tourism in Colombo.

Her appointments at the Foreign Ministry in Sri Lanka also include serving as Director General, Policy Planning and Research, a position she held from January 2019 onwards. She also set up and served as the first Director General of the Ocean Affairs, Environment and Climate Change division of the Foreign Ministry from March 2017 to January 2019 and has held several other appointments including Director/United Nations, Multilateral Affairs, Human Rights and Conferences, Director/Technical Cooperation, and Deputy Director/Economic Affairs.  She was on secondment at the Ministry of Defence as Senior Assistant Secretary (Foreign Affairs) from 2012-2017.

Overseas, Ambassador-designate Premawardhane has served as Minister at the Sri Lanka High Commission in Canberra from 2009-2012 and as Acting High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Australia from December 2010 to July 2011. She also served in the Sri Lanka Embassy in Tokyo as First Secretary from 2001-2004. She has represented Sri Lanka at numerous international conferences, seminars and symposia and been a member of the Sri Lanka delegation on several bilateral, regional and multilateral engagements.

Ambassador-designate Premawardhane holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pune, India and a Master’s degree in Conflict and Peace Studies from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is a past pupil of Bishop’s College, Colombo.