August 16, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-us-Saani 6, 1423

COLOMBO, Aug 15: The Sri Lankan government will hold talks with the Tamil Tigers in Thailand on Sept 12 and 14, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

A Lankan representative communicated the decision to Mr Anton Balasingham, the LTTE delegate at the preliminary talks at Oslo, Norway.

The two delegations held a first round of talks in Norway on Wednesday in the presence of Norwegian officials.

The meeting served as a rehearsal for the formal talks in Thailand next month.

Lankan officials have pledged that they would implement the ceasefire agreement in full before the talks.

The Sri Lankan government was represented by a minister, Mr Milinda Moragoda, and a senior bureaucrat, Mr Gunatillake.

The LTTE were represented by Mr Anton Balasingham. The Norwegian Ambassador to Colombo, Mr Jon Westborg, and several foreign ministry officials represented Norway.

The LTTE representative, Anton Balasingham, pointed out that “although so far the cease-fire was fruitful, a full sense of normalcy in Jaffna and other parts of the North East were still to be established”.

He pointed out that though “the LTTE hopes to go to Thailand soon, military presence should be removed fully from the entire region.