The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jan Petersen, will visit Sri Lanka from 10 to 12 November.

He will meet with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and other government officials. On 11 November, Mr. Petersen will meet the leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabakharan.

The objective of Mr. Petersen’s visit is to maintain close contacts between the facilitator and the parties and to explore with the government and the LTTE possible ways to take the peace process forward.

Mr. Petersen met with President Kumaratunga in New York on 23 September and with the leader of the LTTE Political Wing, Mr. Tamilselvan in Oslo on 20 October. However, there are still some issues that have to be discussed further with the parties before they can resume negotiations.

- This visit is part of our regular contacts with both parties, Mr. Petersen said before leaving Oslo. The purpose is to hear from the parties how they intend to proceed in order to improve respect for the ceasefire agreement, and whether they wish to move towards resuming negotiations. Based on signals received from the parties over recent weeks I do not have high expectations, but in difficult situations it is even more important to keep engaging with the parties.

Mr. Petersen will be accompanied by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Special Advisor Mr. Erik Solheim and Ambassador Hans Brattskar during his programme in Sri Lanka. Mr. Helgesen and Mr. Solheim will extend their stay in Sri Lanka in order to meet with other political leaders, representatives of civil society and the diplomatic community.