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Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)

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Formed
  
1948

Website
  
Official Website

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)

Preceding agency
  
Ministry of External Affairs and Defence

Ministers responsible
  
Mangala Samaraweera, Minister Harsha de Silva, Deputy Minister

Agency executive
  
Mrs. C. Vageeshwara, Secretary

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (also known as the Foreign Ministry) is a ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka that conducts and manages Sri Lanka's relations with other countries. The ministry is housed at the Republic Building in Colombo fort.

Contents

History

The ministry was formally established in 1948 following the independence of Ceylon as the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence, coming under the direct control of the Prime Minister of Ceylon. In 1977, J.R Jayawardena's government adapted two separate ministries, forming the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of External Affairs. A.C.S Hameed was appointed as Cabinet Minister of External Affairs.

Overseas missions

The ministry has 65 overseas missions including 13 High Commissions, a Deputy High Commission, 37 Embassies, 2 Permanent Representations to the United Nations, 11 consulates and a representative office. It provides consular assistance to Sri Lankans traveling, working and studying overseas.

Senior officials

  • Minister of Foreign Affairs — Mangala Samaraweera
  • Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs — Harsha de Silva
  • Permanent Secretary — Esala Weerakoon

    • Divisions

  • General Administration Division
  • Overseas Administration Division
  • Consular Affairs Division
  • Protocol Division
  • Public Communications Division
  • Economic Affairs Division
  • Finance Division
  • IT Division
  • Legal Division
  • United Nations and Multilateral Affairs Division
  • South Asia and SAARC Division
  • Middle East and Africa Division
  • Europe, Americas and CIS Division
  • East Asia and Pacific Division

    • Statutory institutions

  • Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS)
  • Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Co-operation (IOMAC)

    • Permanent Secretaries

    Incomplete

  • Sir Velupillai Coomaraswamy,CMG, CCS
  • Gunasena de Soyza, CCS
  • N.Q.Dias CCS
  • Dr Arthur Ratnavel CCS
  • G.V.P.Samarasinghe, CCS
  • W.T Jayasinghe
  • Bernard Tilakaratna, SLOS
  • Rodney Vandergert, SLOS
  • Wilhelm Woutersz, SLOS
  • R. C. Vendargart, SLOS
  • Lionel Fernando, SLAS
  • G. Wijesiri, SLOS
  • Nihal Rodrigo, SLOS
  • B. A. B. Goonetilleke, SLOS
  • H. M. G. S. Palihakkara, SLOS
  • Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona
  • Romesh Jayasinghe, SLOS
  • Karunatilaka Amunugama, SLOS
  • Kshenuka Seneviratne, SLOS
  • Esala Weerakoon, SLOS

    • References

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA