Manisha Gunasekera assumed duties as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in October 2018. High Commissioner Gunasekera joined the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1996, and has among other posts, served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea; Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva; Director General (East Asia and Pacific) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka; Director General (Donor Coordination) of the Ministry of Economic Development of Sri Lanka; Counsellor, Embassy of Sri Lanka in Japan and Second Secretary, Embassy of Sri Lanka in France. High Commissioner Gunasekera has a BA (Hons.) in English from the University of Delhi, a Masters in International Political Economy and Development from the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague (Erasmus University, Rotterdam), a Masters from the University of Colombo, and a Postgraduate Diploma in European Studies from SciencesPo, Paris. She has presented papers in various academic fora. High Commissioner Gunasekera is a past pupil of Musaeus College, Colombo. Her interests include literature, the arts, walking and yoga.