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WHO IS RANIL WICKREMESINGHE?

Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected as the President of Sri Lanka on July 20, 2022, amid an economic crisis and mass protests across the country that caused his predecessor Gotabaya Rajpaksha to flee the island nation. He is a member of the Sri Lankan parliament from the centre-right United National Party (UNP) and has held various offices in his career spanning over four decades.

Early life and education

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

Sri Lanka's economic growth in 2022 at minus 11%: President Wickremesinghe
Sri Lanka's overall economic growth in 2022 was minus 11 per cent and it could be - 3.5 to - 4 per cent this year, President ...| January 28, 2023, Saturday
LIVE: India to include concerns of Global South in G20, says LS Speaker
Catch all the latest uipdates from across the globe here| January 16, 2023, Monday
Sri Lanka concludes debt restructuring talks with Japan: Wickremesinghe
Sri Lanka has concluded debt restructuring talks with Japan and will continue to hold such meetings with India this month, ...| January 14, 2023, Saturday
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka plans to downsize military by half by 2030
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said last year that military strategy reforms were needed to gear the island's army to face new ...| January 13, 2023, Friday
Public service not an eight-hour job: Lanka president Ranil Wickremesinghe
Wickremesinghe urges public servants to work overtime 'to make cash-strapped island a prosperous nation this year'| January 02, 2023, Monday
Coordinated assistance programme vital for SL's recovery from crisis
Wickremesinghe, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented Sri Lanka's development programme associated with the economic ...| December 06, 2022, Tuesday
No point in economic reforms when we don't have an economy: Sri Lanka Prez
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has acknowledged that there was no point in economic reforms in Sri Lanka because the cash-starved ...| December 06, 2022, Tuesday
Sri Lanka's Tamil parties to discuss federalism ahead of talks with govt
Sri Lanka's all Tamil political parties based in the East and the North are set to meet on Friday to push for federalism ahead of ...| November 25, 2022, Friday
SL President rules out early elections, vows to crush anti-govt protests
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday rejected the opposition's demand for early parliamentary elections and ...| November 23, 2022, Wednesday
Sri Lanka must use its ports for economic growth: President Wickremesinghe
Sri Lanka must use its ports and strategic location for its economic growth, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday while ...| November 18, 2022, Friday

WHO IS RANIL WICKREMESINGHE?

Ranil Wickremesinghe

LATEST UPDATES ON RANIL WICKREMESINGHE

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