Japan welcomes talks agreement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 January 2006, 13:12 GMT]
The Government of Japan in a press release issued Thursday welcomed the agreement between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka to have talks in Geneva, and said it hopes that the escalation of violence in the NorthEast will stop.

Fulltext of the statement issued by Japan follows:

Statement by Mr. Yoshinori Katori, Press Secretary / Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regarding direct talks on implementation of Cease-fire Agreement between The Government of Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE).

1. The Government of Japan welcomes that the Government of Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), through the facilitation of the Government of Norway, have agreed to commence talks on the implementation of Cease-fire Agreement in mid February in Geneva, Switzerland. The Government of Japan commends the role of Norway as facilitator in bringing about this important agreement.
   
   
2. The Government of Japan strongly hopes that escalating violence in the North and East will be stopped, and actual talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE will commence at an earliest possible date.
   
   
3. The Government of Japan also hopes that the peace process will be reinvigorated through such talks. The Government of Japan remains committed to supporting the efforts of the parties to the conflict towards achieving a lasting peace through pursuing the negotiated settlement of the conflict.