Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
The Ministry of External Affairs and Defence was a cabinet ministry of the Government of Ceylon that conducted and managed all of Ceylon's relations with other countries and its military matters from 1947 to 1977.
History
The ministry was formally established in 1948 following the independence of Ceylon as the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence, coming under the direct control of the
J.R Jayawardena's government adapted two separate ministries, forming the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[citation needed
]
Senior officials
- Prime Ministerand Minister of External Affairs and Defence
- Parliamentary Secretaryfor External Affairs and Defence
- Permanent Secretaryof the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
Departments
- Ceylon Army
- Royal Ceylon Navy
- Royal Ceylon Air Force
- Police Department
- Ceylon Overseas Service
- Department of Information
- Department of Immigration and Emigration
Parliamentary Secretaries
- Hon. Richard Gotabhaya Senanayake (1947-1952)
- Hon. Major Montague "Monti" Jayawickreme (1952-1956)
- Hon. Tikiri Banda Subasinghe (1956-1959)
- Hon. Felix R. Dias Bandaranaike (1960-1964)
- Hon. J. R. Jayewardene (1965-1970)
- Hon. Lakshman Jayakody (1970-1972)
Deputy Ministers
- Hon. Lakshman Jayakody (1972-1977)
- Hon. T. B. Werapitiya (1977-1981)
Permanent Secretaries
The following list of
Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and External Affairs:[1]
- Sir Kanthiah Vaithianathan (1948-1952)
- Sir Velupillai Coomaraswamy (1952-1954)
- Gunasena de Soyza (1954-1957)
- Herbert Tennekoon (1957-1959)
- Merenna Francis de Silva Jayaratne (1959-1961)
- N. Q. Dias (1961-1965)
- G.V.P. Samarasinghe (1965-1970)
- A. R. Ratnavale (1970-1972)
- W. T. Jayasinghe (1972-1977)
Additional Secretaries
Incomplete
- S.A. Dissanayake - (former IGP)
- Tissa Wijeyeratne[2]
See also
- Minister of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)
- Minister of Defence (Sri Lanka)
- Minister for Internal Security (Ceylon)
- Diplomatic missions of Sri Lanka
References
- ^ Nissanka, H. S. S. (1984). Sri Lankaʼs Foreign Policy: A Study in Non-alignment. p. 85.
- ^ Tissa Wijeyeratne, an illustrious son of Lanka . Sunday Observer, Retrieved on 14 July 2002.