The government has decided  to appoint  Special Development Projects Minister Tilak Marapana as the new Foreign Minister. 

Marapana will replace Ravi Karunanayake who resigned from his Cabinet  position last afternoon.

Top government sources said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have arrived at an agreement in this regard. 

A former Attorney General and a senior lawyer, Marapana is known to be a trusted ally of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. 

He previously held the position of Law and Order Minister, but later resigned in the wake of the Avant Garde controversy.

He was given a Cabinet position against at the last reshuffle in May. 

Apart from Marapana, Ministers Navin Dissanayake and Sarath Amunugama were also considered for the Foreign Minister's position.