A tug of war has erupted between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera over the Prime Minister's move to appoint a Global Affairs Committee to oversee Foreign Affairs Ministry.

 

The committee giving directions on foreign policy and other related matters is headed by Charitha Ratwatte, a former Treasury Secretary and currently a senior Advisor to the Prime Minister. 

 

However, sources close to Minister Samaraweera told Asian Mirror that the latter was disappointed with the appointment of a committee to overlook his ministry. 

 

Speaking to senior diplomat in Colombo last week, Samaraweera had said he was not aware of any new committee and he would not allow any party to interfere with the affairs of his ministry. It was clear that Samaraweera's criticism was directed at the Prime Minister who was critical of the conduct of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

 

During a meeting attended by several ministers and a group of senior officials two weeks ago,  the Prime Minister said in the past one year “the Foreign Ministry had done little or nothing”.

 

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 were present at the meeting.