Ambassador Saroja Sirisena presented Letters of Credence to President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor on 12 November 2019 at the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana, accrediting her as the Ambassador and Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to Slovenia.
The ceremony entailed a Guard of Honour of the Slovenian Armed Forces, presentation of the Letters of Credence and discussion with President Borut Pahor and his entourage. The Ambassador was accompanied by Ms Asanka Weerasingha, Attaché of the Embassy.
Ambassador Saroja Sirisena conveyed greetings of President Maithripala Sirisena and recalled several high- level visits to Slovenia by Sri Lankan dignitaries. President Borut reciprocated his greetings to his Sri Lankan counterpart and expressed his interest to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries. The Ambassador invited Slovenia to engage with Sri Lanka on the economic front to take advantage of Sri Lanka’s geo strategic location as a gateway to the Asian region considering its market access, logistics and infrastructure.
President Borut encouraged active engagement between the two countries to further develop political, economic and trade relations and especially collaboration between the ports as Slovenia’s Port of Koper is a gateway to Central Europe and the Balkan States.
Ambassador Saroja Sirisena paid courtesy calls on the President of the Slovenian National Assembly His Excellency Dejan Židan, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Dr Aleksandra Pivec, the State Secretary for Economic Development and Technology Her Excellency Eva Štravs Podlogar and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Sri Lanka Embassy in Austria is concurrently accredited to the Republic of Slovenia.
Saroja Sirisena joined Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1998 and served as Director General Economic Affairs, Director General Public Diplomacy and the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, immediately, prior to her appointment in Vienna.
In her Diplomatic Career, she served as the Consul General of Sri Lanka in Mumbai from 2014 -2018 and held positions at Sri Lanka Missions in Geneva, Brussels and Paris.
Her appointments in Colombo include a secondment at the Ministry of Economic Development as Director General / External Relations as well as in Economic Affairs, South Asia and Consular Divisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ambassador Saroja Sirisena is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, Australia and has completed post graduate studies at the École Nationale d’Administration in France. She is a past pupil of Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo.
