The India - Sri Lanka Foundation (ISLF), 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, announces the launch of ISLF Public Lecture Series.

The inaugural lectures series will be delivered by Ambassador Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India and Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries.

ISLF plays an important role in supplementing the various initiatives by the governments of the two countries to strengthen the bilateral relationship and has been instrumental in initiation of many useful and productive projects. Some of the proposals supported by the ISLF include, inter-alia, participation of 16 students from the University of Colombo in the South Asian Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM) held in New Delhi,  participation of 15 members of the Ravibandhu-Samanthi Dance Ensemble in the 4th SAARC Folklore Festival held at Agra, participation of 4 eminent personalities from the Sri Lankan film industry in the South Asian Film Festival held at Goa, organization of a cricket match between 14 members of the Jaffna District under 19 Cricket team and Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram in Delhi and visit of 10 students of St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna to St. Francis School, New Delhi under Student Exchange Programme.

ISLF is also supporting participation of Indian and Sri Lankan authors in the Galle Literary Festival and Jaipur Literary Festival respectively. ISLF also gifts learning material to needy Schools in the Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka. It also facilitates an annual debate between the Universities of the two countries. ISLF also plays an important role in increasing interaction between prominent think-tanks of the two countries. Recently, ISLF also invited nominations for a Fellowship for Post Doctoral Research in Social Sciences.

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:

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
Telephone: 0112698019/
Email: nishani[at]bcis[dot]edu[dot]lk or

Indian Cultural Centre on
Telephone: 2684698.

Colombo