| Post: | Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| Native Name: | Sinhala; Sinhalese: විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය |
| Insignia: | Emblem of Sri Lanka.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 70 |
| Department: | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Incumbent: | Ali Sabry |
| Incumbentsince: | 22 July 2022 |
| Style: | Honourable |
| Nominator: | President |
| Appointer: | The President with advice of the Prime Minister |
| Inaugural: | Don Stephen Senanayake |
| Formation: | 24 September 1947 |
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.[1] 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.
| No. | Portrait | Minister | 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 (Prime Minister) | 24 September 1947 | 22 March 1952 | United National Party | Don Stephen | Self | |||
| 2 | Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක (Prime Minister) | 22 March 1952 | 12 October 1953 | Dudley I | Self | ||||
| 3 | Sir John Kotelawala ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල (Prime Minister) | 12 October 1953 | 12 April 1956 | Kotelawala | Self | ||||
| 4 | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike සොලොමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක (Prime Minister) | 12 April 1956 | 26 September 1959 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | Solomon | Self | |||
| 5 | Wijeyananda Dahanayake විජයානන්ද දහනායක (Prime Minister) | 26 September 1959 | 20 March 1960 | Dahanayake | Self | ||||
| (2) | Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක (Prime Minister) | 21 March 1960 | 21 July 1960 | United National Party | Dudley II | Self | |||
| 6 | Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (Prime Minister) | 21 July 1960 | 25 March 1965 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | Sirimavo I | Self | |||
| (2) | Dudley Senanayake ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක (Prime Minister) | 25 March 1965 | 29 May 1970 | United National Party | Dudley III | Self | |||
| (6) | Sirimavo Bandaranaike සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක (Prime Minister) | 29 May 1970 | 23 July 1977 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | Sirimavo II | Self | |||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||||
| 7 | Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed අබ්දුල් කාදර් ෂාහුල් හමීඩ් | 23 July 1977 | 2 January 1989 | United National Party | Jayewardene | J. R. Jayewardene | |||
| 2 January 1989 | 14 February 1989 | Premadasa | Ranasinghe Premadasa | ||||||
| 8 | Ranjan Wijeratne රන්ජන් විජේරත්න | 18 February 1989 | 28 March 1990 | ||||||
| 9 | Harold Herath හැරල්ඩ් හේරත් | 30 March 1990 | 1 May 1993 | ||||||
| 1 May 1993 | 12 August 1993 | Wijetunga | Dingiri Banda Wijetunga | ||||||
| (7) | Abdul Cader Shahul Hameed අබ්දුල් කාදර් ෂාහුල් හමීඩ් | 12 August 1993 | 15 August 1994 | ||||||
| 10 | Lakshman Kadirgamar ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් | 19 August 1994 | 12 November 1994 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | |||||
| 12 November 1994 | 10 October 2001 | Kumaratunga | Chandrika Kumaratunga | ||||||
| 11 | Tyronne Fernando ටිරොන් ෆර්නැන්ඩො | 12 December 2001 | 7 February 2004 | United National Party | |||||
| (10) | Lakshman Kadirgamar ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් | 10 April 2004 | 12 August 2005 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | |||||
| 12 | Anura Bandaranaike අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක | 23 August 2005 | 22 November 2005 | ||||||
| 13 | Mangala Samaraweera මංගල සමරවීර | 23 November 2005 | 27 January 2007 | Mahinda | Mahinda Rajapaksa | ||||
| 14 | Rohitha Bogollagama රෝහිත බෝගොල්ලාගම | 28 January 2007 | 9 April 2010 | ||||||
| 15 | G. L. Peiris ගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස් | 23 April 2010 | 12 January 2015 | ||||||
| (13) | Mangala Samaraweera මංගල සමරවීර | 12 January 2015 | 22 May 2017 | United National Party | Sirisena I | Maithripala Sirisena | |||
| Sirisena II | |||||||||
| 16 | Ravi Karunanayake රවී කරුණානායක | 22 May 2017 | 10 August 2017 | ||||||
| Vasantha Senanayake වසන්ත සේනානායක (Acting) | 10 August 2017 | 15 August 2017 | |||||||
| 17 | Tilak Marapana තිලක් මාරපන | 15 August 2017 | 26 October 2018 | ||||||
| 18 | Sarath Amunugama සරත් ලීලානන්ද බණඩාර අමුනුගම | 29 October 2018 | 15 December 2018 | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | Sirisena III | ||||
| (17) | Tilak Marapana තිලක් මාරපන | 20 December 2018 | 21 November 2019 | United National Party | Sirisena IV | ||||
| Minister of Foreign Relations | |||||||||
| 19 | Dinesh Gunawardena දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන | 22 November 2019 | 16 August 2021 | Mahajana Eksath Peramuna | Gotabaya I | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | |||
| Gotabaya II | |||||||||
| (15) | G. L. Peiris ගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස් | 16 August 2021 | 21 July 2022 | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | |||||
| Gotabaya III | |||||||||
| Gotabaya IV | |||||||||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |||||||||
| 20 | Ali Sabry අලි සබ්රි | 22 July 2022 | Incumbent | United National Party | Wickremesinghe | Ranil Wickremesinghe | |||