SRI LANKAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S. TO SPEAK IN ROTUNDA

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 7 -- Jayantha Dhanapala, Sri
Lanka's Ambassador to the United States, will speak on "South Asia
in a Post-Cold War World Order" in the Lower West Oval Room of the
Rotunda at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15.
	Dhanapala has served as Ambassador to the United States
since January 1995, after a term as an assistant foreign secretary
in the Government of Sri Lanka.  He had previously served in
embassies in London , Beijing and New Delhi, and as Sri Lanka's
representative to the United Nations in Geneva.  
	Mainly known for his work on disarmament, he directed the
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva from
1987 to 1992 and, in May 1995, headed the international conference
on the future of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which agreed
to extend the treaty indefinitely.  According to Barbara Crossett
(New York Times, May 14, 1995) he is noted for his skill in bringing
about consensus and "is now being mentioned as a possible future
Secretary General of the United Nations."
	Dhanapala spent three months in the United States as a
teenager in 1957, after winning an essay contest and a seat in a
World Youth Forum, both sponsored by the now defunct New York Herald
Tribune.  He has had an international education, at Peradeniya
University in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), the American
University in Washington and the School of Oriental and African
Studies of the University of London.  In addition to Sinhala and
English, he speaks French and Chinese.
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September 6, 1995