A Brief on Foreign Visits by Heads of State and Presidential Involvement in SL’s Foreign Affairs

 Introduction

Marking a first time in Sri Lanka’s political history, former Head of State and 08^th Executive President Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe (“RW”) was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department and remanded by the Colombo Fort Magistrate on the 22^nd of August 2025.

As per the arrest receipt issued by the CID (Daily Mirror, 2025), the former President was arrested on the charges of Section 386 of the Penal Code (Dishonest Misappropriation of movable property), Section 388 of the Penal Code (Criminal Breach of Trust over property) and Section 5(1) of the Offences Against Public Property Act (including Dishonest Misappropriation/Criminal Breach of Trust of movable “public property”).

It was argued by the investigators that the former President had misused state funds to finance a personal trip to the UK “to attend a graduation ceremony of his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe”, with his staff, following an official visit to the American continent (Ada Derana, 2025, p.1). However, these allegations were rejected by the former President, allegedly noting that “there is no such thing as a private or official trip for a president” (Newswire, 2025b, p.1). The UNP subsequently released a document claiming to be the invitation dispatched by the University of Wolverhampton to the former President and his wife in their official capacities as President and First Lady, in the care of the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London (Newswire, 2025a). The investigators, however, argued that this “invitation had come from a private institution… and that for the visit to be recognized as a state event, there must have been an official invitation from the UK Government” (Newswire, 2025b, p.1).

Norwegian politician and diplomat Erik Solheim, commenting in this regard noted that “accusations against Ranil are without merit. Even if they were true, they will not constitute any criminal or even unacceptable behavior in Europe”. Indian MP and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor noted that he is concerned about RW’s arrest “on what, on the face of it, seem trivial charges”. Further, journalist Venkat Narayan, speaking to ANI News noted that “there is no corruption involved in what he did”. 

In this context, this paper discusses the types of foreign visits undertaken by heads of state, classification of such visits by sending states and the Presidential involvement in Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs. However, this must not be construed as an assessment of RW’s liability, which is now a judicial matter.

Different types of foreign visits by Heads of State

With the advancement of transportation, international travel became much safer, cheaper and efficient than before, and as a result, heads of state, despite having resident ambassadors, began to undertake international visits to conduct diplomacy by themselves. Accordingly, terms such as “Summit Diplomacy” - originally coined by Sir Winston Churchill, which refers to meetings between heads of state - and “Shuttle Diplomacy” - which denotes the act of shuttling between nations to achieve important objectives – emerged.

In the background of such extensive travel by heads of state, their foreign visits can be generally classified as follows.  

•   State Visits
•   Official Visits
•   Working Visits
•   Private Visits
•  Transit Visits 

From above, State Visits are the highest form of foreign visits undertaken by heads of state, usually, at the invitation of host country’s government. These are carefully organized with great pomp and pageantry, reflecting true diplomatic grandeur. They often include grand events such as gun salutes, military guards of honor, state banquets and various meetings. For example, President J. R. Jayawardena undertook a state visit to the USA at the invitation of President Ronald Reagan and recently, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a state visit to Sri Lanka (Ministry of External Affairs, 2025).

In the context of the United Kingdom, as noted by Baroness Amos;

State visits take place at the personal invitation of the Queen. The arrangements are made by Buckingham Palace, with support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the relevant London embassy or high commission (UK Parliament, 2002).

However, state visits are not an everyday occurrence, and;

overwhelming majority of foreign travels by politicians, then, are other visits than state visits. Trips can still have official character; others may be working visits, trips with semi-official character, or private visits (Nitsch, 2025, p.3).

Further, “state visits are distinct from low-key 'working visits' and somewhat grander 'official visits'” (Fowler, 2017, p.1).

Therefore, it is important to understand that private visits must not only be distinguished from state visits, but also from other types of visits having official character such as official visits and working visits.

Classification of visits by the sending country

Regardless of the host country’s attitude, the sending country has the sovereign right to decide whether a visit by their head of state to another country is official or not for their internal purposes such as financial, budgetary and legal determinations.

For example, in the USA, “all [of President’s] foreign travel is considered official” based on the assumption that he is always on duty (US Congressional Research Service, 2012, p.1). Further, presidential trips are officially funded as long as they are reasonably related to an official purpose, and such determination is to be made by officers who are most familiar with the facts of a presidential trip (US Office of Legal Counsel, 1982).

Classification of Presidential foreign visits in SL

This author could not find any specific statutory criterion that defines the official foreign visits of the President of Sri Lanka. This is understandable given the diverse nature of presidential diplomacy. However, it appears that, the President is having considerable authority over making determinations on the official foreign visits of his subordinates. This point is substantiated under the next section.

Further, the former Foreign Minister Ali Sabry notes that “a sitting president does not have a public and private life when it comes to his security, health, and protocol when he travels” (Newswire, 2025c, p.1). Therefore, considering the sensitive nature of the top job, it is reasonable for a President to be provided with a security and essential staff continuously.

However, in a democracy, it is important to respect the standards of legality, rationality, procedural propriety, and proportionality when conducting foreign affairs and diplomacy, including foreign visits. At the same time, the sensitivities and subtleties of diplomacy must not be undermined.

Presidential involvement in Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs

As per the Reserved List of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the conduct of foreign affairs is exclusively reserved to the central government as against the provincial councils. Even within the central government, the conduct of foreign affairs has been intimately connected to the highest level of the government. In the post-independence era, until 1977, the Prime Minister himself led the “Ministry of Defense and External Affairs” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2020).

Today, “the President and the Presidential Secretariat are at the center of foreign policy decision making” together with the MFA (Priyadarshani, 2024, p.80) and “it is clear that the Sri Lanka President has all the powers to control the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sri Lankan missions abroad” (Rathnayake, 2024, p.133). In this background, it seems that the President of Sri Lanka is having wide ranging powers on conducting foreign affairs. Some of them are as follows.

As per the Article 33(d) of the Constitution, the President has the power “to receive and recognize and to appoint and accredit Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Plenipotentiaries and other diplomatic agents”. Further, Article 33(h) of the Constitution, empowers the President to do all such acts and things he is required or authorized to do by international law, custom or usage unless it is contrary to the constitution or a written law.

Further, legislations - such as the Extradition Law read with the subjects and functions allocating gazette - have conferred on the President a number of discretionary powers over foreign affairs.

Moreover, the Chapter XV of the Establishment Code dictates that, it is a must for the most senior and sensitive government officials specified therein, to obtain the approval of the President for official foreign travel in general.

Further, the Presidential Secretariat Circular No. PS/SB/Circular/1/2025 issued by the Secretary to the President, Mr. Kumanayake on the 01^st of January 2025 is of timely importance in this regard. According to that, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and government officials, before engaging in official foreign visits, must obtain the President’s clearance to get diplomatic support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on visas. Above circular also notes that, the President has the power to commit the SL government to international obligations without anyone’s authority. Further, it notes that, the President has the privilege of obtaining protocol assistance from Sri Lankan Missions abroad even during “private visits” and “separate arrangements” from Sri Lankan Missions in general.

Therefore, with the President’s intimate involvement in SL’s foreign affairs, as discussed above, he can reasonably be regarded as the island’s chief diplomat and fountain of diplomacy.

Concluding remarks

Based on the above discussion, it is clear that there are numerous types of foreign visits having an official character. Further, it is the sovereign right of states to determine whether a foreign visit by their head of state is official or not. However, in SL, a statutory criterion for such determination is apparently lacking and thereby, it is prudent to uphold the minimum standards such as reasonability and proportionality. Further, it is clear that as the fountain of diplomacy, the President of SL has considerable authority over foreign affairs, including over official foreign visits.

Therefore, based on the above discussion, one may argue that, RW’s participation in a graduation ceremony in the UK following an official invitation, while returning from another official engagement in the Americas, is reasonable and proportionate and therefore, justified. However, it is logical for Presidents, who are by nature on continuous duty, to be supplemented by the state, including when travelling abroad practicing presidential diplomacy -- sending subtle messages, making impressions and cultivating relations -- with state and non-state actors alike!

References

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Daily Mirror. (2025, August 22). Arrest receipt of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Dailymirror.lk. https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Arrest-receipt-of-Ranil-Wickremesinghe/108-317331

Fowler, B. (2017). Does a US President always get a State Visit to London? Hansardsociety.org.uk. https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blog/trump-state-visits-and-parliament-precedent-and-process

Ministry of External Affairs. (2025). Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi arrived in Colombo on a two-day State Visit to Sri Lanka. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. https://www.mea.gov.in/newsdetail1.htm?13456/

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Newswire. (2025b, August 22). Ranil: “No private or official trips for a President” – Court told - Newswire. Newswire. https://www.newswire.lk/2025/08/22/ranil-no-private-or-official-trips-for-a-president-court-told/

Newswire. (2025c, August 24). What misuse? Ali Sabry says Presidents cannot separate official & private security - Newswire. Newswire. https://www.newswire.lk/2025/08/24/what-misuse-ali-sabry-says-presidents-cannot-separate-official-private-security/

Nitsch, V. (2005). STATE VISITS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE. https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp1582.pdf

Priyadarshani, N. (2024). Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy Making.

Rathnayake, L. (2024). Foreign Policy and Commercial Diplomacy in the Economic Development of Sri Lanka.

UK Parliament. (2002). Lords Hansard Written Answers text for 3 Jul 2002. In Parliament.uk. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/ldhansrd/vo020703/text/20703w01.htm

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US Office of Legal Counsel. (1982). Payment of Expenses Associated with Travel by the President and Vice President.