 |
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in London |
Contact
Address
13 Hyde Park Gardens, London, W2 2LU
Phone Number
020 7262 1841
Website
www.srilankahighcommission.co.uk
E-Mail
mail@slhc-london.co.uk
The Ambassador
Amb. Senadheera Dumunnage Nimal Upali Senadheera
Senadheera Dumunnage Nimal Upali Senadheera is a senior Sri Lankan public administrator and diplomat. His career spans more than two decades in public administration, education and foreign service, including diplomatic work in Pretoria and senior roles in provincial government and the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration. He holds postgraduate qualifications in public policy and public administration as well as studies in linguistics and social sciences.
History
Bilateral ties between Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom are structurally deep, historic, and profoundly multi-layered, formalized immediately upon the nation (then Ceylon) gaining independence in 1948. The High Commission in London was actually the very first embassy established by the newly independent nation. It operates out of an elegant, historic independent chancery located at 13 Hyde Park Gardens.
The High Commission functions as a powerhouse operational command post for executing advanced bilateral trade integration, educational synchronization, and massive diaspora statecraft between Colombo and Whitehall. Under High Commissioner Senadheera’s strategic direction, a primary mandate of the mission involves maximizing trade opportunities under the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS). The High Commission works directly with British corporate syndicates, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board, and initiatives like the SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme to channel British institutional capital into Sri Lanka's high-value apparel sectors, sustainable agriculture, and booming IT services.
On the cultural and educational fronts, the mission champions deep institutional connections, actively facilitating elite academic transfers through the UK Chevening Scholarship network and collaborating with major British universities.
Furthermore, the embassy drives extensive civic statecraft. Its heavily utilized consular division conducts frequent mobile consular services across major UK cities—including Manchester and Liverpool—delivering streamlined, digitized passport renewals, civil registries, and vital civic support to the massive, highly successful Sri Lankan professional, medical, and student diaspora community thriving across the British Isles.
