Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe (Sinhalese: රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ - Tamil: ரணில் விக்ரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949), is a Sri Lankan politician, who is serving as the eighth executive president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka since 20th July 2022. He has been as country's Prime Minister, six times previously. He is also the leader of the United National Party since 1994, Member of parliament for the Colombo District since 1977, and leader of the United National Front, appointed in October 2009.

Quotes

But the right to make the final judgment who was responsible for the deaths and on the nature of punishment should rest with the judicial system of Sri Lanka. The judicial system in Sri Lanka was in shambles earlier, but now it is returning to normal. The sovereignty of each country must be respected in such issues

• A priority for us is the creation of more jobs that will minimise poverty and provide for prosperity for all Sri Lankans. Towards this, we need to enhance our capacity to successfully compete in global markets while creating the necessary space for investments to come in.
  • On reducing poverty in SL (Sri Lanka), quoted on World Finance (February 16, 2016), "Sri Lanka has reduced poverty but challenges remain"

• It was not clear how many of them were killed by the (Lankan) army or whether the LTTE had moved the people to the war zones which led to the death of some of them. We may not have the full expertise to identify the exact factors that led to those casualties. So international participation is welcome for determining such causes. But the right to make the final judgment who was responsible for the deaths and on the nature of punishment should rest with the judicial system of Sri Lanka. The judicial system in Sri Lanka was in shambles earlier, but now it is returning to normal. The sovereignty of each country must be respected in such issues.
  • Wickremesinghe on investigating war crimes in Sri Lanka, quoted on Times of India, "Sri Lanka willing for international probe on war crimes says Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe", February 12, 2016.

• Interviewer: Prime Minister, it's 6 years, since the war, and there is still no investigation.
• Ranil Wickremesinghe: We are putting together the mechanisms of accountability and reconciliation. By me or so, when we had to.. before the UN council meeting in Geneva with our proposals already.

• Interviewer: The critical issue as far as the international community and indeed I think as far as the Tamils are concerned, is the international dimension of the president said last week there will be no international involvement in this investigation.
• Ranil Wickremesinghe: No, we are not ruling that out. I'm just going out with the flow, he has not ruled it out. The first prong of the people itself. Whatever they must do, they must find also benefit and that's a long process started.
  • Interview with Ranil Wickremesinghe, Jan 26, 2016.

• The Indian ocean is in need of a mutually benefiting security architecture established on a multilateral basis
  • Sri Lanka was wiling to take the lead in forming a multilateral forum with UN support to ensure the maritime security of the Indian Ocean, quoted on The Economic Times: India, "Sri Lanka willing to set up forum to secure Indian Ocean: PM Ranil Wickremesinghe", November 23, 2015.

• We are looking at how power sharing takes place within the Constitution.
  • On devolution of power to Tamils in Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, quoted on The Economic Times: India, "Looking at devolution of power to Tamils: Ranil Wickremesinghe", September 15, 2015.

• Gordon Fairclough (Reporter of Wall Street Journal): So under the new government, do you plan to relook at the country's ties with China?
• Ranil Wickremesinghe: We recognize the People's Republic of China, as it was established. We signed one of the first trade agreements with China. With a further development by successful governments, whatever political hue. So we'd like to continue that close relationship with China. Of course, from time to time, there can be issues that arise, but I'm sure we could... we're confident that dispute those issues, the relationship will not be altered in a significant way. In addition to the fact that there's a government [2x] relationship, the main political party also have their individual relationship with the Communist Party of China.
  • Wickremesighe's response on relations with China and foreign investments