COLOMBO: On Saturday, new Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe inducted four ministers into his Cabinet, including G L Peiris as Foreign Minister, as the country's new leader attempted to finish the cabinet formation so that efforts to restore the economy could be focused.
According to the Daily Mirror, Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in as Minister of Public Administration, Peiris as Foreign Minister, Prasanna Ranatunga as Minister of Urban Development and Housing, and Kanchana Wijesekara as Minister of Power and Energy. Peiris served in former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet as Foreign Minister.
As per reports, Wickremesinghe's cabinet is expected to be limited to under 20 members. Sri Lanka's decision Wickremesinghe's party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), has opted to lend crucial support to Wickremesinghe, who has only one member in Parliament.
The majority of Sri Lanka's opposition parties have stated that they will not join Wickremesinghe's interim government.
The 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader was named Sri Lanka's 26th prime minister on Thursday, after the country had been without a government since Monday, when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's elder brother and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after violence erupted after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters.
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