Harsha de Silva
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Honourable Dr Harsha de Silva MP, PhD |
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| Deputy Minister of Economic Development | |
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Assumed office 31 May 2017 |
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In office 12 January 2015 – 17 August 2015 |
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| President | Maithripala Sirisena |
| Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
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In office 9 September 2015 – 31 May 2017 |
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| President | Maithripala Sirisena |
| Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
| Member of the Sri Lanka Parliament for Colombo District |
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Assumed office 2015 |
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| Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament for National List |
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In office 2010–2015 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | August 30, 1964 |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party | United National Party |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Economist |
Dr Harsha de Silva (Sinhala : ආචාර්ය. හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා ), MP is a Sri Lankan economist and politician (born 30 August 1964). A current member of Parliament of Sri Lanka, he is the current Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Development and the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He acted as the Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Development in the 100-day government. He has gained lime light as a media personality hosting several talk shows relating to development and international matters. In the recent years, he voiced his opposition to the economic policies of the previous government.
Educated at Royal College Colombo, he gained his BS in Business Management from Truman State University in 1988 and went on to complete his MA and PhD in Economics at the University of Missouri in 1993. He has also participated for an executive program on evaluating social programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006 as an Eisenhower Fellow.
As an economist he worked for the DFCC Bank, going on to become its chief economist and treasurer. Thereafter he was the co-founder and Joint Managing Director of The Nielsen Company.
He was placed in charge of "Economic Diplomacy" of the government and was a supporter of economic liberalization and trade agreements. He is a supporter of major trade agreements and is a supporter of Sri Lanka joining the Trans Pacific Partnership.
He was the visionary and the main backer of the Indian-aided project to create a modern EMT and Ambulence service in Sri Lanka. When India offered a gift to Sri Lanka in order to mark Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit De Silva proposed an emergency medical service after personal experiences with short comings in the Sri Lankan system as well as the urging of doctors. It was also backed by Wickremesighe resulting in India's world reputed GVK Emergency Response Institute offering training to hundreds of Sri Lankan EMTs and Paramedics as well as donating Ambuelnces and granting a 7.5 million dollar grant to start the service in Colombo and Galle as a first step.
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