Minister of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is an appointment in the Cabinet of Sri Lanka who is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy of the Government of Sri Lanka. The post was first created in 1947 as Minister of External Affairs and Defence, in 1977 the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence separated into two ministries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. Prior to the separation of the post the Minister of External Affairs and Defence was held by the Prime Minister since 1947, with a Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs who was an elected parliamentarian and was the de facto foreign minister.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka
විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය
Emblem of Sri Lanka
Incumbent Vijitha Herath since 25 September 2024
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Style	Honourable
Nominator	President
Appointer	The President with advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Don Stephen Senanayake
Formation	24 September 1947
Website	www.mea.gov.lk

List of ministers

Parties

•   United National Party (13)
•   Sri Lanka Freedom Party (9)
•   Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (2)
•   Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1)
•   National People's Power (1)

• ^† Died or assassinated in office

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Head of Government
				From	To	Period
Minister of Defence and External Affairs
1			Don Stephen Senanayake දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක (1884–1952) MP for Mirigama District (Prime Minister)	24 September 1947	22 March 1952[†]	4 years, 180 days	United National Party	Don Stephen	Self
2			Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක (1911–1973) MP for Dedigama District (Prime Minister)	22 March 1952	12 October 1953	1 year, 204 days		Dudley I	Self
3			General Sir John Kotelawala ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල (1897–1980) MP for Dodangaslanda District (Prime Minister)	12 October 1953	12 April 1956	2 years, 183 days		Kotelawala	Self
4			S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike සොලොමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක (1899–1959) MP for Attanagalla District (Prime Minister)	12 April 1956	26 September 1959[†]	3 years, 167 days	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Solomon	Self
5			Wijeyananda Dahanayake විජයානන්ද දහනායක (1902–1997) MP for Galle District (Prime Minister)	26 September 1959	20 March 1960	176 days		Dahanayake	Self
(2)			Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක (1911–1973) MP for Dedigama District (Prime Minister)	21 March 1960	21 July 1960	122 days	United National Party	Dudley II	Self
6			Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) MP for Attanagalla District (Prime Minister)	21 July 1960	25 March 1965	4 years, 247 days	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Sirimavo I	Self
(2)			Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක (1911–1973) MP for Dedigama District (Prime Minister)	25 March 1965	29 May 1970	5 years, 65 days	United National Party	Dudley III	Self
(6)			Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (1916–2000) MP for Attanagalla District (Prime Minister)	29 May 1970	23 July 1977	7 years, 55 days	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Sirimavo II	Self
Minister of Foreign Affairs
7			Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed අබ්දුල් කාදර් ෂාහුල් හමීඩ් (1927–1999) MP for Harispattuwa District	23 July 1977	2 January 1989	11 years, 206 days	United National Party	Jayewardene	J. R. Jayewardene
				2 January 1989	14 February 1989			Premadasa	Ranasinghe Premadasa
8			General Ranjan Wijeratne රන්ජන් විජේරත්න (1931–1991) National List	18 February 1989	28 March 1990	1 year, 38 days
9			Harold Herath හැරල්ඩ් හේරත් (1930–2007) MP for Puttalam District	30 March 1990	1 May 1993	3 years, 135 days
				1 May 1993	12 August 1993			Wijetunga	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
(7)			Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed අබ්දුල් කාදර් ෂාහුල් හමීඩ් (1927–1999) MP for Kandy District	12 August 1993	15 August 1994	1 year, 3 days
10			Sri Lankabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් (1932–2005) National List	19 August 1994	12 November 1994	7 years, 52 days	Sri Lanka Freedom Party
				12 November 1994	10 October 2001			Kumaratunga	Chandrika Kumaratunga
11			Tyronne Fernando ටිරොන් ෆර්නැන්ඩො (1941–2008) MP for Colombo District	12 December 2001	7 February 2004	2 years, 57 days	United National Party
(10)			Sri Lankabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් (1932–2005) National List	10 April 2004	12 August 2005[†]	1 year, 124 days	Sri Lanka Freedom Party
12			Anura Bandaranaike අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක (1949–2008) MP for Gampaha District	23 August 2005	22 November 2005	91 days
13			Mangala Samaraweera මංගල සමරවීර (1956–2021) MP for Matara District	23 November 2005	27 January 2007	1 year, 65 days		Mahinda	Mahinda Rajapaksa
14			Rohitha Bogollagama රෝහිත බෝගොල්ලාගම (born 1954) MP for Kurunegala District	28 January 2007	9 April 2010	3 years, 71 days
15			G. L. Peiris ගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස් (born 1946) National List	23 April 2010	12 January 2015	4 years, 264 days
(13)			Mangala Samaraweera මංගල සමරවීර (1956–2021) MP for Matara District	12 January 2015	22 May 2017	2 years, 130 days	United National Party	Sirisena I	Maithripala Sirisena
								Sirisena II
16			Ravi Karunanayake රවී කරුණානායක (born 1963) MP for Colombo District	22 May 2017	10 August 2017	80 days
–			Vasantha Senanayake වසන්ත සේනානායක (born 1973) MP for Polonnaruwa District (Acting)	10 August 2017	15 August 2017	5 days
17			Tilak Marapana තිලක් මාරපන (born 1942) National List	15 August 2017	26 October 2018	1 year, 72 days
18			Sarath Amunugama සරත් ලීලානන්ද බණඩාර අමුනුගම (born 1939) National List	29 October 2018	15 December 2018	47 days	Sri Lanka Freedom Party	Sirisena III
(17)			Tilak Marapana තිලක් මාරපන (born 1942) National List	20 December 2018	21 November 2019	336 days	United National Party	Sirisena IV
Minister of Foreign Relations
19			Dinesh Gunawardena දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන (born 1949) MP for Colombo District	22 November 2019	16 August 2021	1 year, 267 days	Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	Gotabaya I	Gotabaya Rajapaksa
								Gotabaya II
(15)			G. L. Peiris ගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස් (born 1946) National List	16 August 2021	21 July 2022	339 days	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
								Gotabaya III
								Gotabaya IV
Minister of Foreign Affairs
20			Ali Sabry අලි සබ්රි (born 1970) National List	22 July 2022	23 September 2024	2 years, 63 days	Sri Lanka Podujana Peramun	Wickremesinghe	Ranil Wickremesinghe
21			Vijitha Herath විජිත හේරත් (born 1970) MP for Gampaha District	25 September 2024	Present	63 days	National People's Power	Dissanayake I	Anura Kumara Dissanayake
								Dissanayake II

See also

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of External Affairs and Defence

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Sri Lanka 54th Independence Anniversary, Colonial rule to independence, by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe
• Sri Lankan Foreign Ministers