Minister of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka
Incumbent Dinesh Gunawardena
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Appointer	The President with advice of Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Don Stephen Senanayake
Formation	24 September 1947
Website	www.mea.gov.lk

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 1978 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 Foreign Ministers

Parties

  United National Party (13)   Sri Lanka Freedom Party (9)   Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1)

Name		Portrait	Party	Tenure	Head(s) of Government		Ministerial title
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Don Stephen Senanayake		United National Party	24 September 1947 - 22 March 1952	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Don Stephen Senanayake	Minister of External Affairs and Defence
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	22 March 1952 - 12 October 1953	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	John Kotelawala		United National Party	12 October 1953 - 12 April 1956	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	John Kotelawala
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 April 1956 - 26 September 1959	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Wijeyananda Dahanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	26 September 1959 - 20 March 1960	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Wijeyananda Dahanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	21 March 1960 - 21 July 1960	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	21 July 1960 - 25 March 1965	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake		United National Party	25 March 1965 - 29 May 1970	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dudley Senanayake
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	29 May 1970 - 23 July 1977	!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Sirimavo Bandaranaike
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	J. R. Jayewardene		United National Party	23 July 1977 - 4 February 1978	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	J. R. Jayewardene
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed		United National Party	4 February 1978 - 1989	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|		Minister of Foreign Affairs
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Ranjan Wijeratne		United National Party	1989 - 1991	rowspan="2" style="background: Template:United National Party/meta/color;" |	Ranasinghe Premadasa
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Harold Herath		United National Party	1991 - 1993
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed		United National Party	1993 - 1994	!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dingiri Banda Wijetunga
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Lakshman Kadirgamar		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	1994 - 2001	rowspan="4" style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color;" |	Chandrika Kumaratunga
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Tyronne Fernando		United National Party	2001 - 2004
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Lakshman Kadirgamar		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	2004 - 2005
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Anura Bandaranaike		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	August 2005 - 23 November 2005
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Mangala Samaraweera		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 November 2005 – 28 January 2007	rowspan="3" style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color;" |	Mahinda Rajapaksa
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Rohitha Bogollagama		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	28 January 2007 - 8 April 2010
!align="center" style="background:Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	G. L. Peiris		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 April 2010 – 12 January 2015
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Mangala Samaraweera		United National Party	12 January 2015 – 22 May 2017	style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color;" |	Maithripala Sirisena
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Ravi Karunanayake		United National Party	22 May 2017 - 10 August 2017	style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color;" |
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Wasantha Senanayake (acting)		United National Party	10 August 2017 - 15 August 2017	style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color;" |
!align="center" style="background:Template:United National Party/meta/color; color:white;"|	Tilak Marapana		United National Party	15 August 2017 - 22 November 2019	style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Freedom Party/meta/color;" |
!align="center" style="background:Template:Mahajana Eksath Peramuna/meta/color; color:white;"|	Dinesh Gunawardena		Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	24 November 2019 - Present	style="background: Template:Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna/meta/color;" |	Gotabaya Rajapaksa

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