Ambassador to the US Jaliya Wickramasuriya of Sri Lanka

Wickramasuriya said the most innovative well-armed terrorist group has been hampering the progress of the country for the last two decades.

com): A record gathering of Sri Lankans in LA agreed in unison that Consul General Jaliya Wickramasuriya had united them in no uncertain manner.

Jaliya Wickramasuriya said he left his well-established business where he was CEO, as well as his contended family life in Atlanta when President Mahinda Rajapaksa requested him to come to LA.

Sri Lanka in Washington DC since independence in 1948.

Wickramasuriya has brought a change to the Sri Lankan community in Los Angeles through his competent organization skills by marshalling the local talent that brought the community together.

Wickramasuriya is the 15th Ambassador to represent the Government of Sri Lanka in Washington DC since its independence in 1948.

has beeen hampering the progress of the country for the last two decades.

Obama and Wickramasuriya met during the election campaign and exchanged greetings.

Ambassador Wickramasuriya expressed the hope that close relations between Sri Lanka and USA would be strengthened.

Yet even before leaving Sri Lanka to assume his post, Wickramasuriya was to afford US a taste of what is likely to come under his watch.

Given that Wickramasuriya has for the past two years served as Consul General to Sri Lanka's mission in Los Angeles, the ease with which he is awed by diplomatic life is slightly frightening.

Wickramasuriya was thrilled to bits also because Blake had invited him to the US Independence Day celebrations on July 4, and he had gone so far as to say that the dinner was one of his most memorable moments to be with such a great American diplomat.

In fact, apart from such silly, little hangers-on of no consequence such as the President's Consul General in Toronto - Bandula Jayasekera , sent out under the Bogollagama Foreign Ministry, Wickramasuriya is one of the least qualified - even though he has been picked for the most crucial post.

Trying timesWickramasuriya was to do all the 'real' work such as liaising with US officials and lobbying members of Congress, State and Justice Departments on matters of interest to Sri Lanka since they wanted a technically qualified person to undertake the work, whilst the President's cousin enjoyed the limelight.

diplomatic life is slightly frightening.

with such a great American diplomat.

Born in 1960 in the deep south of Sri Lanka, Ambassador Wickramasuriya had his early education at the village school and completed his academic studies in Colombo.

With his smiling face and brush haircut, Ambassador Wickramasuriya has not let diplomacy change his life much, according to his wife.