The Foreign Ministry coordinates and carries out the foreign policy of the Government of Sri Lanka. The Ministry of Foreign Relations consists of the Ministry headquarters in Colombo and the missions abroad.

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 Prime Minister of Ceylon. In 1977, the government divided the ministry in two, forming the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  A.C.S Hameed was appointed as the first Minister of Foreign  Affairs on 4 February 1978.