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 the 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.
List of ministers Parties (13) (9) (2) (1) (1)
Status Died or assassinated in office
No.PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryHead of governmentRef From To Period Minister of Defence and External Affairs1Don Stephen Senanayakeදොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක24 September194722 March1952 United National Party D. S. SenanayakeSelf2Dudley Senanayakeඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක22 March195212 October1953 D. Senanayake ISelf3Sir John Kotelawalaශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල12 October195312 April1956 KotelawalaSelf4S. W. R. D. Bandaranaikeසොලොමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක12 April195626 September1959 Sri Lanka Freedom Party S. W. R. D. BandaranaikeSelf5Wijeyananda Dahanayakeවිජයානන්ද දහනායක26 September195920 March1960 DahanayakeSelf(2)Dudley Senanayakeඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක21 March196021 July1960United National Party D. Senanayake IISelf6Sirimavo Bandaranaikeසිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක21 July196025 March1965Sri Lanka Freedom Party S. Bandaranaike ISelf(2)Dudley Senanayakeඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක25 March196529 May1970United National Party D. Senanayake IIISelf(6)Sirimavo Bandaranaikeසිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක29 May197023 July1977Sri Lanka Freedom Party S. Bandaranaike IISelf Minister of Foreign Affairs 7 Abdul Cader Shahul Hameedඅබ්දුල් කාදර් ෂාහුල් හමීඩ්23 July19772 January1989 United National Party JayewardeneJ. R. Jayewardene2 January198914 February1989 Premadasa Ranasinghe Premadasa8Ranjan Wijeratneරන්ජන් විජේරත්න18 February198928 March1990 9 Harold Herathහැරල්ඩ් හේරත්30 March19901 May1993 1 May199312 August1993 Wijetunga Dingiri Banda Wijetunga(7)Abdul Cader Shahul Hameedඅබ්දුල් කාදර් ෂාහුල් හමීඩ්12 August199315 August1994 10 Lakshman Kadirgamarලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර්19 August199412 November1994 Sri Lanka Freedom Party12 November199410 October2001 Kumaratunga Chandrika Kumaratunga11Tyronne Fernandoටිරොන් ෆර්නැන්ඩො12 December20017 February2004United National Party(10)Lakshman Kadirgamarලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර්10 April200412 August2005 Sri Lanka Freedom Party12Anura Bandaranaikeඅනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක23 August200522 November200513Mangala Samaraweeraමංගල සමරවීර23 November200527 January2007 M. Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa14Rohitha Bogollagamaරෝහිත බෝගොල්ලාගම28 January20079 April201015G. L. Peirisගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස්23 April201012 January2015 (13) Mangala Samaraweeraමංගල සමරවීර 12 January2015 22 May2017 United National Party Sirisena I Maithripala Sirisena Sirisena II16Ravi Karunanayakeරවී කරුණානායක22 May201710 August2017 Vasantha Senanayakeවසන්ත සේනානායක10 August201715 August201717Tilak Marapanaතිලක් මාරපන15 August201726 October201818Sarath Amunugamaසරත් ලීලානන්ද බණඩාර අමුනුගම29 October201815 December2018Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sirisena III(17)Tilak Marapanaතිලක් මාරපන20 December201821 November2019United National Party Sirisena IV Minister of Foreign Relations 19 Dinesh Gunawardenaදිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන 22 November2019 16 August2021 Mahajana Eksath Peramuna G. Rajapaksa I Gotabaya Rajapaksa G. Rajapaksa II (15) G. L. Peirisගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස් 16 August2021 21 July2022 Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna G. Rajapaksa III G. Rajapaksa IV Minister of Foreign Affairs20Ali Sabryඅලි සබ්රි22 July202223 September 2024Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna WickremesingheRanil Wickremesinghe21 Vijitha Herathවිජිත හේරත්25 September2024PresentNational People's Power Dissanayake IAnura Kumara Dissanayake Dissanayake II
See also Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
References
External links Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sri Lanka 54th Independence Anniversary, Colonial rule to independence, by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe Sri Lankan Foreign Ministers