Mr. Ajith Abeysekera Director General, Department of External Resources

Mr. Ajith Abeysekera currently holds the position of Director General, Department of External Resources, under the Ministry of Finance, Economic and Policy Development. He was serving as the Additional Director General of the same department since 2013, and counts on 30 years of experience in the public service. He is a Special Grade officer of the Sri Lanka Planning Service (SLPS).

Mr. Abeysekera joined the Sri Lanka Planning Service (SLPS) in January 1994 as an Assistant Director. After completion of his six months in-service service training in May 1994, he was appointed to the Divisional Secretariat Badulla as an Assistant Director (Planning) where he served for nearly six years. In 2000 January he was assigned to the Department of National Planning, Ministry of Finance and Planning where he worked until 2004. Since then he got the opportunity to work for the Department of National Budget until 2010. In 2011 he was promoted to the post of Director of the Department of Public Enterprise. He worked in the post of Director for the Department of Fiscal Policy too.

Mr. Abeysekera holds a Master’s Degree in International Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo Japan (2003). He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Sub National Level Development Planning from the University of Colombo (2000), andHigher Diploma in Advanced English for Administration and Academic Purposes from the University of Colombo in 1996. Mr. Abeysekera was also attached to the United Nations University, Tokyo Japan for six months as an Intern during October 2002 - March 2003. He is a graduate from the University of Kelaniya with B.Sc (Hons) in Physics, Mathematics and Industrial Management in 1991.

During his career, He engaged in policy related development matters and contributed to several Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committees and Technical Evaluation Committees. He was also a member of Sri Lankan delegations in several international donor conferences, and has undergone a number of local and foreign training programmes relating to regional and sub-national level development, project formulation and appraisal, infrastructure regulations, strategic management, resources management and budgeting, revenue mobilization, financial programming and policies, and macro fiscal planning etc.

Mr. Abeysekera  represented the Treasury as a Board Director in the Ceylon Shipping Corporation, Lanka Sathosa Ltd, Lanka Electricity Company Limited (LECO), Central Transport Board (CTB), National institute of Education, German Technical Training Institute, Tea Research Institute (TRI), Institution for Construction and Development (ICTAD), Kotalawala Defence University (KDU), Batalanda Defense Staff College and Urban Settlement Development Authority (USDA).  He is also a Governing Council Member of National Institute of Business Management (NIBM), and a member of the Board of Directors of Lanka Hydraulic Institute Ltd. 

Research Papers:

• Trends in industrial sector growth in both pre and post liberalization regimes – Sri Lanka; Thesis for M.A. Degree
• The impact of existing road transport sector policies on air pollution -The case of Colombo city; Working Paper for  United Nations University, Tokyo - Internship

• Impact on social mobilization programs on rural poverty alleviation; Thesis for Post Graduate Diploma

The Department of External Resources (ERD) is headed by Director General assisted by four Additional Directors General and 9 Directors in charge of the following Divisions;