Mr. Romesh Jayasinghe, a senior Foreign Service Officer who is currently the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in New Delhi has been appointed by President Rajapaksa as the new Foreign Secretary with effect from 1st October 2009.

Mr. Jayasinghe will succeed Dr. Palitha Kohona, the current Foreign Secretary who has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

An Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam, who was also Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, has been nominated to succeed Mr. Jayasinghe as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in New Delhi.

Sri Lanka’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and currently a Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Kshenuka Senewiratne, has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.