SL Envoy to Japan presents credentials to Emperor

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Japan E. Rodney M. Perera presented the Letters of Credence to Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on January 19.

Ambassador Perera was driven in a custom-built limousine from the Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace.

At the outset of the formal occasion, the Emperor conveyed warm greetings and best wishes to President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Sri Lankan people and that was warmly acknowledged by Ambassador Perera. After the formal presentation of his credentials in the presence of the Minister of Defence Yasukazu Hamada representing the Prime Minister and the Government of Japan, Ambassador Perera conversed with Emperior Naruhito.

Ambassador Perera joined the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1988 and brings with him four decades of professional education, research, global travel, speaking opportunities, and interactions concerning Sri Lanka’s relations with the rest of the world. Ambassador Perera is an alumnus of St. Joseph’s College of Colombo and has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems, a Master of Arts Degree in International Studies from Columbia University in New York. He has also completed specialized study programmes at reputed institutions in Sri Lanka and in other countries, including, Harvard University and the National Defence University in Washington DC.

Ambassador Perera’s first overseas diplomatic assignment was at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Tokyo as Second Secretary from 1989 to 1992. Thereafter, he served as First Secretary of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York; Acting High Commissioner of the Sri Lanka High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya (concurrently accredited to UN environment and housing agencies). He was Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Italy (concurrently accredited to Cyprus, Greece and Malta along with Rome-based UN Agencies in food and agriculture), Norway, Belgium (concurrently accredited to Luxembourg), and the European Union and Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States of America in Washington D.C. until the end of 2020.