Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam presents credentials

Ambassador W.G.S. Prasanna with the President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Nguyem Phu Trong

Ambassador Sampath Prasanna Walpita Gamage presented his Letter of Credence to President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Nguyen Phu Trong, on 16 October at the Presidential Palace in Ha Noi, accrediting him as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to Viet Nam. The Ambassador was accompanied by Third Secretary (Commercial) Prasadi Boomawalage, and Attaché of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Viet Nam Anjana Illeperuma. 

At the Presidential Palace, the Ambassador was received by a ceremonial guard and later conveyed greetings of the President of Sri Lanka to the President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. President Nguyen Phu Trong reciprocated his greetings to the President of Sri Lanka and conveyed his warmest congratulations to the new Ambassador, promising to extend his fullest co-operation to enhance the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The President further elaborated that, as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020 and as a non-permanent member of UN Security Council for the period of 2020 – 2021, Viet Nam will be able to enhance its international co-operation in a broader context.

Prasanna Gamage joined Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1998 and served in the capacities of Assistant Chief of Protocol, Personal Assistant to the Foreign Secretary cum Deputy Director of Economic Affairs, Actg. Director-General of Overseas Administration, Director/ South Asia and SAARC, and Deputy Chief of Protocol. He was the Director-General of Policy Planning, Research and Human Resources Development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately prior to his appointment as the Ambassador to Viet Nam.

In his diplomatic career, he served as the Consul General of Sri Lanka in Melbourne, Australia, from 2015 to 2019 and held positions at Sri Lanka High Commissions in Singapore and the United Kingdom. He was also Sri Lanka’s Country Director at the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2012 to 2014.

Ambassador Prasanna Gamage is a graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya. He received his primary education at Pilana Maha Vidyalaya, Galle, and secondary education at Richmond College, Galle.