08 November 2004	Monday	24 Ramazan 1425

COLOMBO, Nov 7: With Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Peterson scheduled to arrive in the country on Wednesday for talks with the reclusive Tamil Tigers chief, Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the Scandinavian ceasefire monitors claim that they have good news to tell.

Norway, which is facilitating the Sri Lankan peace process despite recent ceasefire violations by the LTTE, is likely to propose that talks should be held this year.

When we brief the Norwegian delegation on the present situation with regard to the peace process, we will inform them that the situation has improved in recent weeks, the deputy chief of the Scandinavian monitoring team, Hagrup Haukland, said on Saturday.

The Director General of the Peace Secretariat in Colombo, Dr John Gunarathne, is confident that everything is in place for a comprehensive round of talks between Norwegian facilitators, the LTTE and the Lankan government.