COLOMBO, August 2019: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the appointment of 13 new heads of missions overseas including nine career diplomats of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service and a prominent human rights activist-lawyer.
Sri Lanka maintains 52 High Commissions/Embassies overseas, and with these appointments, the percentage of career diplomats who will head Sri Lankan missions overseas will increase to 54%, from 37% at the commencement of 2019. Of the 27 heads of missions appointed this year, 23 have been from the Sri Lanka Foreign Service.
In a press statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the appointments of 13 persons nominated by President Maithripala Sirisena, as new heads of Sri Lanka missions was approved by the Committee on High Posts of the Parliament of Sri Lanka to Examine the Suitability of Persons Nominated/Appointed to the State Services and State Corporations, also known as the High Posts Committee.
The nine career diplomats of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS) who have been appointed as heads of missions are: Mr. A.S. Khan, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Nigeria, Mr. U.L. Mohammed Jauhar, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kuwait, Dr. A.S.U Mendis, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Korea, Mrs. S. Shanika Dissanayake, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Jordan, Mr. W.G.S. Prasanna, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Vietnam, Mrs. Himalee Arunatilaka, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Nepal, Mr. Lakshitha Ratnayaka, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Cuba, Mr. P.R.S. Sugeeshwara Gunaratna, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Ethiopia and Mrs. D.P.C.W. Karunaratne, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Lebanon.
The High Posts Committee has also approved the following professionals as heads of missions: Mr. J. C. Weliamuna, President’s Counsel and a leading human rights activist-lawyer as High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Australia, former Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal Kapila Jayampathy (Rtd.) as High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Malaysia, Mr. Nimal Karunaratne, former Additional Surveyor General as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Maldives, and Mr. Kithsiri Athulathmudali, international business consultant and businessman as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Qatar.
