Ambassador Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India and Chairman, Research and Information system will be visiting Sri Lanka from 13-18 November, 2011 to deliver inaugural lecture of the India- Sri Lanka Foundation Public Lecture series.

Ambassador Shyam Saran, a distinguished career diplomat, was Foreign Secretary of India from 2004-2006. He served as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Indo-US civil nuclear issues and later as Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change until February 2010. He continues to be involved in providing inputs to the Government of India on policy matters, as a member of the National Security Advisory Board, and was recently appointed Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, which is a major think tank specializing in studies on economic and trade-related issues.

He has been India’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Indonesia and Nepal and High Commissioner to Mauritius and has served in several capitals of the world including Beijing, Tokyo and Geneva.  In the Ministry of External Affairs, Ambassador Saran headed the Economic Division, the Multilateral Economic Division and the East Asia Division which handles relations with China and Japan. Ambassador Saran was also Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for foreign policy, nuclear and defence related issues.

On January 26, 2011, Ambassador Saran achieved the rare distinction of being awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India for his outstanding contribution to civil service. The Padma Bhushan is the third highest national award in India.

All are welcome to attend the lectures by Ambassador Saran, which would be followed by an interactive session, as per the following schedule:

The India - Sri Lanka Foundation was established by a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of India and Sri Lanka in 1998 in order to foster India - Sri Lanka relations through the enhancement of economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation and to promote greater understanding between the people of the two countries.

For any further information please contact India – Sri Lanka Foundation (Colombo Secretariat) on Telephone 0112389924/email: islfcolombo[at]gmail[dot]com or Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies on 0112698019/email: nishani[at]bcis[dot]edu[dot]lk or Indian Cultural Centre (Tel: 2684698).