Sri Lanka has announced the appointment of Professor Sudershan Seneviratne, a professional archaeologist and historian, as the country's High Commissioner to Bangladesh. He has previously served as Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India. An official announcement said the appointment was made to further Sri Lanka's economic and cultural ties with Bangladesh and to take its traditional connections with Bangladesh to a new level. 

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said he looks towards "genuine connectivity and partnership with our neighbors while maintaining our neutrality as a sovereign and independent state as an avenue reaching out to our friends who respect our sentiments". Bangladesh has genuinely reached out to Sri Lanka and nurtured Sri Lankan investments and management skills by making them dedicated stakeholders contributing towards the economy of Bangladesh.  Sri Lanka looks at furthering these economic ties along with several other initiatives in technology, agriculture, culture, heritage, research, and academic engagements and collaborations, the announcement said.

 Professor Seneviratne's familiarity with heritage, history, and archaeology India, South Asia, SAARC, IORA and foreign relations (he was senior advisor to late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar) and also language skills including initiatives he undertook through a new India Policy - when he was High Commissioner to India - makes him a most suitable envoy to Bangladesh, the announcement said. He has delivered, among other high-profile presentations, speech at the UN and also the Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore orations.