LONDON: The office of the Department for International Trade in UK has announced that Ranil Jayawardena has been appointed as the Minister of Trade by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“It’s a great privilege to have been asked by Boris Johnson to serve as a trade minister at this crucial time,” Jayawardena, aged 33, tweeted.
MP Jayawardena was elected as the Conservative Party’s Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire in May 2015 and was re-elected in 2017. In the British Parliament he is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Sri Lanka.
Previously, Jayawardena, whose father is of Sri Lankan origin, had served as a trade envoy for Sri Lanka after being appointed to that post by former British Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019. Shortly after that appointment he said: “Given the shared history and close bonds of friendship between Britain and Sri Lanka – and with my family ties to Sri Lanka – I am looking forward to serving as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy at an exciting time for both our countries.”
Jayewardena was born in London before moving to Hook before starting school. He attended Hook Infant School and Hook Junior School in the village, before going to Robert May’s School in Odiham. After leaving school, he went to Alton College, and graduated from the London School of Economics in 2008, with a BSc in Government.
