Why is Sri Lanka’s Washington Envoy Still Not Appointed?

Sri Lanka’s first President, William Gopallawa, was appointed Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States by Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world’s first woman Prime Minister. Soon after she became Prime Minister, she appointed William Gopallawa as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States and sent him there. Although she was not pro-American, she believed that a person who was a relative of hers and one she could trust should be appointed to deal with the United States on behalf of Sri Lanka’s Head of State.

William Gopallawa was a relative of Mrs Bandaranaike. Although she was not pro-American, she understood the importance of appointing a trusted person to handle relations with the United States. In 1962, she brought William Gopallawa back to Sri Lanka to appoint him as Governor-General of Ceylon. After she introduced and passed the new Constitution in 1972, he was appointed the first President of Sri Lanka.

When he was appointed Governor-General of Ceylon, the then U.S. President John F. Kennedy congratulated William Gopallawa, who had served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States before being appointed Governor-General of Ceylon.

That was how successive Sri Lankan governments understood their responsibility to appoint a suitable person as the country’s Ambassador to the United States. When Gotabaya became President, he asked Mahinda Samarasinghe, who was a government MP, to resign from Parliament and take up the post of Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States, demonstrating how seriously he regarded relations with America.

Gotabaya’s decision proved to be a correct one when Mahinda’s commitment to signing the IMF agreement during the economic crisis, as well as the services he rendered in helping reduce the tariffs imposed on Sri Lanka by the United States under Trump’s tariff policy, are taken into consideration.

Sri Lanka’s IMF agreement has still not been concluded. Trump’s efforts to impose tariffs have also not come to an end. For this very reason, the post of Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Washington is one of the key positions in Sri Lanka’s economic process.

Since Mahinda returned to Sri Lanka after leaving the post of Ambassador, there has not even been any discussion about appointing another Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States.

Recently, Trump imposed a 100% tariff on countries importing oil from Russia, in a move aimed at affecting India. Sri Lanka has still not signed a tariff agreement with the United States. Sri Lanka remains in a vulnerable position. Whatever the reason may be, leaving the post of Ambassador in Washington vacant is not beneficial to Sri Lanka’s economy.

By Upul Joseph Fernando

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