President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed International Relations expert Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage to the post of Additional Secretary to the President for Foreign Relations.
Admiral Colombage served the Sri Lanka Navy for a period of 36 years and retired as the Commander of the Navy on 1 July 2014. Admiral Colombage is the 18th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy. He was decorated for gallantry and commended for exceptional service to the Navy.
Upon retirement from the Navy, Admiral served as the Director for Indo-Sri Lanka Initiatives and Law of the Sea Centres at the Pathfinder Foundation, which is a premier think-tank and research centre, based in Colombo. Admiral has represented the Pathfinder Foundation and Sri Lanka in many bi-lateral, regional and international fora, presenting papers, participating in panel discussions and chairing sessions on international politics, strategic and maritime security related fields.
Admiral Colombage has been a guest lecturer in few universities and training institutes in Sri Lanka, India and China. Admiral Colombage has also been an editor and reviewer of number of internationally renowned academic journals.
Admiral Prof. Colombage holds a PhD from General Sir John Kotelawala University, Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University, and Master of Arts in International Studies from Kings College, London. His PhD thesis “Asymmetric Warfare at Sea; the case of Sri Lanka” has been published by Lambert Academic Publishing in Germany. Admiral is also a fellow of Nautical Institute of London.