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New body under PM to oversee Foreign Ministry
A Global Affairs Committee under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will oversee the working of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), giving directions on foreign policy and all related matters.
It is headed by Charitha Ratwatte, a former Treasury Secretary and currently a senior Advisor to the Prime Minister. This is one of a number of measures Premier Wickremesinghe has taken in a bid to revive the Foreign Ministry which was found to be floundering. He met relevant ministers and senior officials of the Ministry at his office in the parliament complex this month and was bitterly critical. He said in the past one year “the Foreign Ministry had done little or nothing”.
Those present at the meeting included Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva, Ministers Malik Samarawickrema, Sagala Ratnayake, Lalith Ekanayake, the Prime Minister’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, Foreign Secretary Chitranganee Wagiswara and senior officials in the ministry.
Premier Wickremesinghe told the Sunday Times most diplomatic missions overseas were ineffective in many ways and did not report adequately on different aspects. This included the economy and foreign employment. He said the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies would be elevated to a degree awarding institution under a programme now
being formulated. However, he declined to give details of the meeting he had with the Foreign Ministry. Another source present at the meeting said the Economic Affairs Division that came under the MFA would be brought directly under Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema. It has been observed that this division was obsolete in the MFA since there was no contribution towards the country’s development efforts. Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva, the source said, was advised to keep in touch with Minister Samarawickrema and not duplicate the work done by his Ministry. It was observed that different ministries were not being serviced by Sri Lanka missions overseas through the MFA. These included the Ministries of Finance, Tourism and Foreign Employment.
The Global Affairs Committee, the source added, would “play a pivotal role in the working of the ministry. It would not only be guiding the ministry on bilateral issues but also on multilateral issues and other matters that are of interest to Sri Lanka.”