Wagiswara served as Sri Lanka’s top diplomat in Canada from 2010 to 2014. (Picture by Mahesh Abeyewardene)
Career diplomat Chitranganee Wagiswara who was the former High Commissioner to Canada was today named the new Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka, state media in Colombo reported.
The appointment was made by Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera who was sworn-in by the President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday.
Wagiswara served as Sri Lanka’s top envoy in Canada from late 2009 until March 2014.
The new national government is expected to mend its ties with the West and have a balanced foreign policy, Sri Lankan media reported. Meanwhile Samraweera will meet his Indian counterpart later this month on his first foreign visit.
“The election of President Maithripala Sirisena in a peaceful democratic process is a welcome opportunity to forge afresh a coherent,consistent and balanced foreign policy based on the permanent national interests of Sri Lanka and executed with professional competence,” senior Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala wrote in the Indian newspaper The Hindu.
