Former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya presents letters of credence to UN

Former chief justice Jayantha Jayasuriya presented his Letters of Credence as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.   

According to the Ministry, the Ambassador presented his letters of Credence to the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Gutierrez on June 5, 2025 at a ceremony held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.   

The Ambassador conveyed greetings of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake 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, the Ministry said.   

Following the presentation of credentials, the Secretary-General and Ambassador engaged in a bilateral meeting. The Secretary General 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, the Ministry added.

Ambassador Jayasuriya 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, according to the Ministry.