Mahinda Samarasinghe
Mahinda Buddhadasa Samarasinghe, MP is a Sri Lankan politician and former diplomat. He is the current Minister of Ports & Shipping in President Maithripala Sirisena's Government, and Sri Lanka Freedom Party chief organiser for the Panadura Electorate in Kalutara District. Samarasinghe co-chairs the Permanent Standing Committee on Human Rights in Sri Lanka.
Education
Mahinda Samarasinghe completed a Bachelor of Economics degree at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.Diplomatic career
Having joined the Sri Lanka Overseas Service, he served as the First Secretary to the Sri Lanka High Commission in Australia and as Counselor for the Sri Lankan Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva during the 1980s. He has represented Sri Lanka at the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, International Telecommunication Union and the World Meteorological Organisation. While working at the Sri Lanka Mission in Geneva, he represented Sri Lanka at almost all of the Governing Body meetings of the International Labour Organization in 1986 and 1987, as well as the International Labour Conference from 1985–1987. At the end of the 1987 ILC, he successfully presented a draft resolution on ‘Workers Housing,' which was adopted at the conference.Human rights
As co-chair of the Permanent Standing Committee on Human Rights in Sri Lanka, Samarasinghe works in close cooperation with several UN Organisations including the United Nations Human Rights Commission, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children's Fund and International Labour Organization, as well as other international organizations such as the International Organisation for Migration to continue Sri Lanka's endeavors to rehabilitate and reintegrate citizens from the country's formerly war-torn areas. He also acted as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Human rights task force of sri lanka while being the Executive member of the parliamentary group for the protection and promotion of human rights.Political career
Samarasinghe entered active politics in 1988 and was elected to the Provincial Council of the Western Province, where he served as the Leader of the House of the Provincial Council and the Provincial Minister of Health and Economic Infrastructure.In 1994 he was elected to parliament from the Kalutara district, and was re-elected in subsequent elections held in 2000, 2001,2004 and 2010. During the period 2001 - 2004, he served as the Cabinet Minister of Employment and Labour. He was the Government Chief Whip from 2001–2004 and the Opposition Chief Whip from 2004 - 2006. Samarasinghe joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 2006 and is the Sri Lanka Freedom Party chief organiser for the Agalawatta Electorate in Kalutara District. He had also served as Cabinet Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights from 2006 - 2010 and Minister of Plantation Industries from 2010 - 2015. He was a member in the Parliamentary Consultative Committees of the Ministries of Trade, Commerce, Industries, Finance and Foreign Affairs.
| Position | Period |
| Minister of Employment & Labour | 2001-2004 |
| Minister of Disaster Management & Human rights | 2006-2010 |
| Minister of Plantation Industries | 2010-2015 |
| State Minister of Finance | 2015 |
| Minister of Skills Development & Vocational Training | 2015-2017 |
| Minister of Ports & Shipping | - |