February 27, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 25, 1423

COLOMBO, Feb 26: The opposition parties — Peoples Alliance and the Marxist party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna — on Tuesday began their first round of talks in order to reach an understanding.

The JVP, which has 16 seats in the parliament, had earlier been critical of the Peoples Alliance’s “capitalist stance”, but of late has softened its stand to reach an understanding.

The meeting held to discuss the prospective Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the JVP and the PA lasted for over two hours at the President’s House. More talks are likely to follow.

JVP’s spokesperson Wimal Weerawanse said that the intention to have an ‘understanding’ with the Peoples Alliance is in the larger interest of the country.