Mr. R. G. S. Wijesekara
Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka
to the World Trade Organisation
(1) Name : R.G.S WIJESEKARA
(2) Date of Birth: November 30, 1974
(3) Date of assuming Duty as Ambassador/PR to WTO: 12th July 2023
(4) Education:
2000- Graduated from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Faculty of Management
2008- Post Graduate Diploma in Economic Development, University of Colombo
2013- Master of Economics, University of Madras, India
2015- Diploma in Advanced Trade Policy, World Trade Organization, Geneva
2016- Mastering Trade Policy-Exc. Education at the Harvard Kennedy School, USA
2021- Reading for Phd in Economics at the University of Colombo
(5) Professional Career:
January 2000 Project Officer Central Bank of Sri Lanka
January 2001 Audit Officer, KPMG
January 2002 Joined the Department of Commerce (DoC)
March 2003 Intern at Sri Lanka Mission in Geneva, Switzerland
January 2005 Assistant Trade Commissioner, Sri Lanka High Commission in London
March 2006 Assistant Director at the Department of Commerce- Multilateral Affairs
April 2010 Counsellor (Commercial), Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission, Chennai
August 2014 Department of Commerce, Deputy Director, Bilateral Affairs
April 2017 Minister (Commercial), Sri Lanka Embassy, Tokyo
May 2021 Director (Research and Training), Department of Commerce
Oct 2022 Member National Trade Negotiation Committee of Sri Lanka
Oct 2022 Co-Chair of Trade in Services Sub-Committee under FTAs
Jan 2023 Deputy Head of Multilateral Affairs Division at DoC
Mr. R.G.S. Wijeskara
Ambassador / Permanent Representative to WTO
Mr. Wijesekara obtained his B.Sc Degree from the University of Sri Jayawaradanapura, Sri Lanka and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Economic Development at the University of Colombo. He holds an MA (Economics) from the University of Madras, India. Mr. Wijesekara obtained a Diploma in Advanced Trade Policy conducted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. He has also obtained executive training on ‘Mastering Trade Policy’ at Harvard Kennedy School in the USA/Boston. Mr. Wijesekara is currently reading for his Phd in Economics at the University of Colombo.
Mr. Wijesekara joined the Department of Commerce as an Assistant Director of Commerce in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in 2002. Since then he served as a WTO (World Trade Organization) Mission Intern at the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Geneva, Diplomatic assignments as the Assistant Trade Commissioner at the Sri Lanka High Commission, London, Minister Counsellor, Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai and Minister Commercial at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Japan being responsible for Sri Lanka’s Trade, Commerce & Investment Promotion work and representing commercial and economic interests abroad.
During his tenure at the Department of Commerce, as a capital-based officer; he worked under the Directorate of Multilateral Trade Relations, Bilateral Trade & Economic Relation Division as well as the Research and Training Division.
As a career commercial officer, Mr. Wijesekara represented Sri Lanka’s delegations at various trade negotiations and provided extensive negotiation, technical and analytical support / inputs at various multilateral and bilateral fora.
Mr. Wijesekara also worked as one of Sri Lanka’s coordinators for the 3rd WTO Trade Policy Review of Sri Lanka during the year 2010 and as the deputy coordinator for the 4th WTO Trade Policy Review of 2016.
Mr. Wijesekara has been trained in the World Trade Organization (WTO) on multilateral trading systems in the areas of International Trade and participated in various other capacity development initiatives in many countries.
In October 2022, Mr. Wijesekara has been appointed as a member of the National Trade Negotiation Committee by the Cabinet for the negotiation of bilateral FTAs with China, India and Thailand. He also co-chairs the Trade in Services sub-committees under these FTAs.
Mr. Wijesekara married to Mrs. Disala Jayasekera and having two sons and a daughter.
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