Newly appointed Consul General of Sri Lanka in Sydney assumes duties

Newly appointed Consul General of Sri Lanka in Sydney assumes duties

Newly appointed Consul General of Sri Lanka in Sydney assumed duties at the Consulate General’s Office in Sydney on 16th October 2019.

Before the assumption of duties, the Consul General and staff observed the religious observances conducted by Ven. Katugastota Soma Thero and Ven. Polgahawela Anandamaithri of Catai Temple in Sydney.  

Consul General, Bandara joined the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 2000 and has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Assistant Chief of Protocol (2000/2001), Deputy Director/Europe CIS and America’s Division (2005/2005) and Director Consular Affairs (2012/2013) and finally, as the Acting Director-General/Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2018 /2019).

During his diplomatic assignments, he was posted to the following Missions including Beijing (2001 – 2005), The Hague (2006 – 2009), Islamabad (2009 – 2012), Bagdad (2014 – 2015), SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu (2015 – 2018) under various capacity.

Mr Bandara has obtained a BA Degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, MSc in Information Management at Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). Also, he has two Post Graduate Diplomas in International Studies (BCIS) and Writer-ship and Communication (Sri Jayewardenepura University).

In addition, he has the professional training in Commonwealth Regional Youth Centre, Chandigarh, India (1996), Best Management Practice Morogoro, Tanzania (1999), Chinese Language, Culture and Diplomacy (2001) in Beijing Foreign Affairs University, English Language Training Institute in Hyderabad India (2005), IDFR Malaysia (2006), Daniel Inouye Asia – Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii (2015). Before that, he was in Tanzania under the UNDP Project in 1999. Also, he was in the Ministry of Youth and Sports since 1995.

He has been working as a writer and journalist since 1986 and several articles published in national newspapers in both Sinhala and English languages. Also, he has written many youth novels, travel guides and publications about youth issues during the last 30 years.