Dr Palitha Kohona, was the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China. He was the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, 2009 - 2015.

Until August 2009 he was the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka during the critical end phase of the armed conflict with the terrorist group, LTTE.

He was also the former Secretary-General of the Government Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process. He was a member of the Government delegation at the talks held in February and October 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland with the LTTE. He led the Government delegation to Oslo for talks with the LTTE in June 2006.

He was previously the Head of the United Nations Treaty Section in New York.