Norwegian Foreign Minister arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 February 2000, 07:28 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek who arrived in Colombo today had a two-hour long discussion with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Lakshman Kadirgamar this morning.

Details of discussions will not be made public, a foreign ministry official in Colombo said.

Mr.Vollebaek will meet the leader of the main opposition party, Ranil Wickremasinghe this noon.

The Norwegian minister will meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga, before he leaves this evening.

Norway has been engaged in peace process for a long time and there have been meetings with both the Government and LTTE representatives.

Mr.Vollebaek met Mr. Anton Balasingham, the political advisor and theoretician of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in London last week and held talks on the possibility of Norway assisting peace talks between Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers.

Mr. Balasingham told TamilNet that Norway's involvement as a facilitator is a positive development signifying the growing concern among the international community over escalating conflict and the predicament of the Tamil people.