UK PM appoints MP Ranil Jayawardena as Trade Minister

Wed, May 6, 2020, 11:56 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

May 06, London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed Ranil Jayawardena, UK parliamentarian of Sri Lankan origin as UK’s Trade Minister.

Ranil Jayawardena, who has been the Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire since 2015, announced on Wednesday that he was asked by the Prime Minister to join the Department for International Trade as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.

“It’s a great privilege to have been asked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to serve as a Department for International Trade Minister at this crucial time,” Jayawardena tweeted.

“I look forward to working with Trade Secretary Liz Truss to underpin the government’s agenda for ‘Global Britain’. Much to do… trade, investment, growth.”

Jayawardena, 33, whose father is of Sri Lankan origin, was elected as the Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire in May 2015 and was reelected in 2017. He has a degree in government from the London School of Economics. In Parliament he is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Sri Lanka.

In 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed MP Ranil Jayawardena, as her trade envoy for Sri Lanka.