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Who is Ranil Wickremesinghe?
Wickremesinghe was born into a political family in the capital Colombo on March 24, 1949, to Press Baron, Esmond Wickremesinghe and Nalini Wickremesinghe. He completed his schooling at Royal Preparatory School and graduated from the Faculty of Law, the University of Ceylon (now the University of Colombo). He is married to Maithree Wickremesinghe, an academic and a professor at the University of Kelaniya.
Career
Wickremesinghe started his career as an advocate in 1972. He joined UNP, the oldest political party in Sri Lanka in the mid-1970s and won his first parliamentary poll in 1977. He was appointed the Minister of Youth Affairs & Employment and was the youngest cabinet minister in the country.
He was sworn in as Sri Lankan Prime Minister in May 1983, after associating with then president Ranasinghe Premadasa, and held the post till August 1989. The 73-year-old has held the PM's post six times, but has never completed a full term.
He was the leader of the Opposition when UNP lost the parliamentary election to the People's Alliance (PA) party in 1994. He again served as the leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2015.
Wickremesinghe was sworn in as PM for the second time in 2001 and held the position till 2004. During his tenure, the country's foreign policy called for better ties with the west and his government held several rounds of peace talks with separatist group LTTE, and even entered a three-month ceasefire agreement in 2002.
UNP-led common candidate Maithripala Sirisena won the 2015 Sri Lankan Presidential election and Wickremesinghe was appointed as PM for the third time till 2018. In his tenure, Wickremesinghe proposed several economic reforms including a knowledge-based social market economy, Special economic zones, state-owned enterprises, and special financial and business hubs.
Wickremesinghe held the PM's post three more times after UNP's 2018 electoral loss, with the latest being just weeks before his appointment as President. In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was appointed PM after Mahinda Rajapaksha was forced to resign following Sri Lanka's worst-ever economic crisis.
The mass protests due to the highest-ever levels of inflation in the island nation, scarcity of basic commodities such as fuel, food, etc and large-scale unemployment forced President Gotabaya Rajpaksha to flee and send his resignation from overseas.
Following this, Wickremesinghe was appointed as the eighth president of the nation on July 21.
Latest Updates on Ranil Wickremesinghe
The ruling National People's Power, which won the presidential election last month, pledged to reinvestigate past cases which had not been resolved
The new Cabinet Spokesman Vijitha Herath, who holds multiple ministries, said that he, along with the newly-appointed President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the prime minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya
Wickremensignhe has made progress steadying Sri Lanka's economy, but discontent remains strong as he's introduced economic policies that have raised the cost of living
Wickremesinghe stood firm in his commitment to implement reforms and has vowed to steer the country out of bankruptcy
He emphasised the need for fiscal responsibility, cautioning that further salary increases without proper planning could cripple the government, the report said
Earlier last week, President Wickremesinghe announced that debt restructuring agreements were finalised with bilateral lenders, including India and China, in Paris on June 26
Dismissing the Opposition's criticism as inaccurate, Wickremesinghe argued that no bilateral creditor would agree to a reduction of principal amount
Bangladesh's PM Sheikh Hasina and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe are among foreign dignitaries attending Modi's third consecutive term swearing-in ceremony
Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay also congratulated Modi and NDA for the historic third consecutive win and said he looked forward to working closely with him
He further said, 'Information technology is another area that we will be moving fast on and there are many other projects that India and Sri Lanka will have here'
The main opposition's economy spokesman Harsha de Silva in a statement said they were disappointed with the lack of transparency in the debt restructuring process
Citing the Constitution, Wickremesinghe, 74, said the presidential election should take place first, and arrangements will be made accordingly
In his address, Wickremesinghe also said that there is a need for extensive trade and economic ties between India and Sri Lanka
He said even under the current negotiations for restructuring, Sri Lanka still has to pay around $3 billion per year
Despite a 7.8 per cent GDP contraction and six consecutive quarters of negative growth in 2022, the nation rebounded with a 1.6 per cent growth rate in the Q3 of 2023, he said
Sri Lanka in April 2022 declared its first ever sovereign default since gaining independence from Britain in 1948
Jaishankar is in the Ugandan capital city of Kampala to represent India at the two-day summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which began on Friday
The latest discussion took place on Monday during a meeting between the High Commissioner of India Santosh Jha with the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe
The announcement comes following last week's orders of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had declared the cost as Rs 250 million every fortnight
Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched more than 20 attacks on merchant ships in recent weeks, claiming to take revenge against Israel for military campaign against Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza