Former Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha T. B. Kohona is to be appointed as the new Sri Lankan Ambassador to China, the Foreign Ministry said.
Dr. Kohona, the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, was formally nominated to the post by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The Foreign Ministry has referred the nomination to the High Posts Committee of parliament for its clearance.
Dr. Kohona has a distinguished record in academics, international law and practical diplomacy. He has advanced degrees from three countries and experience as a civil servant with the Australian and Sri Lankan governments and the UN.
Dr. Kohona was Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009. He then went to the UN to be the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York till 2015.
In 2013, he was elected Chair of the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (Legal). He was Co-Chair of the UN Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, and Chair of the UN Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Arab Territories.
