Ambassador Jayantha Jayasuriya presented his Letters of Credence as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres yesterday (June 05) at a solemn ceremony held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

At the presentation, the Ambassador conveyed greetings of the President of Sri Lanka to the Secretary-General, and expressed his intention to work closely with the United Nations and its agencies. Secretary-General Guterres recognized Sri Lanka’s strong commitment to multilateralism and warmly welcomed Ambassador Jayasuriya to New York and to the United Nations. He requested to convey his warm regards to the President of Sri Lanka.

Following the presentation of credentials, the Secretary-General and Ambassador engaged in a bilateral meeting. He recalled his visit to Sri Lanka in detail as a young Parliamentarian with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and spoke of his special relationship with the country. He encouraged Sri Lanka to continue to take an active role within the UN, and noted that small and developing countries have been instrumental in bringing to the fore issues that are important for the United Nations to champion.

Ambassador Jayasuriya acknowledged the importance of the United Nations and commended the work undertaken by the UN agencies in Sri Lanka to support development efforts of the government. He noted that Sri Lanka is celebrating 70 years as a member of the United Nations, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the UN and assured of his support.

Ambassador Jayasuriya, P.C., served as the 47th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. He was called to the Bar in 1982, and served in various capacities in the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel. Ambassador Jayasuriya was appointed as President’s Counsel in 2012, and as Attorney General of Sri Lanka in 2016. He has served as Trial Attorney in the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (UN-ICTY) and for Rwanda (UN-ICTR). He is also a Commonwealth Scholar.