Esala Ruwan Weerakoon of Sri Lanka assumed charge of office as the Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). He is the fourteenth Secretary General of SAARC. Weerakoon is a career diplomat. Prior to this appointment, he was the Senior Additional Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka. He has also served as the Foreign Secretary and Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, Sri Lanka. In his 32 years of diplomatic service, he has also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Norway. Weerakoon holds an MSc degree in Economics from the University of London. The SAARC secretary general is scheduled to separately call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, SAARC Chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Biaragi at his convenience, the SAARC Secretariat here has stated.