New FM Sabry commends GL’s leadership

Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, PC, has said that he looked forward to delivering on the mandate of the Ministry to steer forward Sri Lanka’s foreign relations, taking the domestic compulsions, too, into consideration.

Sabry commended the outgoing Minister Prof G.L. Peiris for his leadership provided to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. President Ranil Wickremesinghe replaced Prof. Peiris with Sabry in the wake of the former publicly backing lawmaker Dullas Alahapperuma at the presidential contest on July 20.

Sabry was appointed a Member of Parliament in August 2020. Minister Ali Sabry served as the Minister of Justice since 12 August 2020, until he was appointed the Finance Minister on April 04, 2022

As the Minister of Justice, he launched many new initiatives, including wide-ranging reforms to the Sri Lankan justice sector, with an across the board reform programme, to amend over hundred laws, some of which have not been changed in over a century. Minister Ali Sabry also initiated the digitization drive of the justice sector, the expansion of courthouses across the country and the introduction of specialized courthouses to address the issue of delays.

As the Finance Minister, he led the Sri Lankan delegation for the recent negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in Washington D.C.

Prior to his entry into politics, Minister Ali Sabry was a practicing lawyer with many of the cases he handled appearing in law reports and publications. He was appointed a President’s Counsel in 2012 and was awarded the Outstanding Young Person of The Year for Achievement in Law in 2009. He has also served as Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1997.