High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

“Let us within our own grouping be bold enough to introspect. We must take measures to improve the existing mechanisms through review, rationalization and re-invigoration. If there is a need, we should not hesitate to build new structures and mechanisms, to enable SAARC to reach its full potential,” said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to 16th SAARC Summit at Thimphu, Bhutan today.

Having a common South Asian voice in issues of Climate Change, with those who historically contributed to climate change now sharing the burden of mitigating it; continued cooperation in the battle against terrorism; taking economic progress beyond statistics to reach the village level where most South Asians live, carrying out policies that strengthen the rural sector and prevent the unwelcome movement from village to city; and, the search for South Asia’s own home grown solutions to current and future problems were among the highlights of the President’s address.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over the chairmanship of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)  to Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley during the inauguration of the 16th summit of the heads of state of SAARC at Thimpu in Bhutan.

The new Cabinet of Ministers of the UPFA government headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (23 April).

General Secretary of the People’s Alliance (PA), Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne was sworn in as the Prime Minster before President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees a short while ago.

Mr. Jayaratne entered parliament from Gampola electorate following the General Election in 1970 from the United Front led by Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Born in June 7, 1931 he is one of the earliest members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party when it was founded in Kandy in 1951. He was educated at Doluwa Maha Vidyalaya where he was later a teacher. He was later postmaster at Doluwa, Gampola from 1960-62.

He was defeated in the General Election of 1977 and later re-elected from the Kandy District. In the 1989 General Election, he obtained 54,290 votes; the highest polled by a candidate of the district from the SLFP and was a member of the opposition in the parliament.

He was a key member in organizing the People's Alliance and in the General Election of 1994, he was elected again with the highest number of votes from the Gampola electorate and appointed Minister of Land, Agriculture and Forestry in the cabinet of Prime Minister Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

Following the election in 2000 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Food and Corporative. With the General Election victory of the PA in 2004, he was appointed Minister of Post and Telecommunication and Upcountry Development and later in 2005 he was appointed Minister of Post and Telecommunication and Rural Economic Development under President Mahinda Rajapaksa. From 2007 to date he has been the Minister of Plantation Industries.

In 2001 he was elected Chairman of the Asia Pacific Region of Food and Agriculture Organization.

Mr. Jayaratne is the 20th Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.