Mark Gooding took up his appointment as Deputy High Commissioner to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on 2 June 2008.

From 2006-2008 Mark worked as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in London, serving under Margaret Beckett and David Miliband. He covered UK policy on Europe, Asia and Australasia, including work on the new EU Treaty, Afghanistan, Burma, Kosovo, North Korea, and Pakistan.

From 2004-2006 Mark was Head of the EU Budget Team at the FCO in London, which helped deliver a successful deal on the 2007-2013 EU budget during the UK Presidency of the EU in 2005.

Mark served from 2001-2004 in China, working as Political, Economic and Press Consul at the British Consulate-General in Shanghai after two years of full time training in Mandarin Chinese.

Mark studied French and German at Oxford University, and spent two years in Sri Lanka afterwards as Head of Modern Languages at the British School in Colombo. He is accompanied by Dr Christopher McCormick, an education specialist.