Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera were seen together at the Sri Lanka Economic Summit this evening at Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo.

Samaraweera is a key figure in the UNP rebel group promoting Sajith Premadasa as the party's presidential candidate at the upcoming election.

Samaraweera facilitated a press conference for Premadasa at the official residence of the Finance Minister this morning. After the press conference, a senior political correspondent posted on Twitter that Premadasa has been taken hostage by Samaraweera. Addressing the press conference, however, Samaraweera said there was no internal division in the UNP, but a healthy and democratic discussion on who the candidate should be.

The Sri Lanka Economic Forum, which took place under the auspices of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, shed light on future economic prospects and investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.