COLOMBO, Nov 21: President Kumaratunge said on Friday that she was willing to ‘forget’ everything of the ‘past’ and work ‘together’ for the good of the country.

Her Party, the ‘Peoples Alliance’ in a separate press briefing in Colombo on Friday echoed her statement made at a meeting with the business community.

The spokesperson for the Peoples Alliance, Dr Sarath Amunugama told the media that the only way forward was to initiate a negotiation with the LTTE and said that the President had given an ultimatum of December 15 to complete a framework for a national coalition government with equal representation from both the Peoples’ Alliance and the United National Front.

The prime minister’s office when contacted said that the premier would welcome this decision by the president and reiterated that he would want the president to join hands with him in steering the country towards their common goal of ushering in peace.

The Peoples’ Alliance spokesperson said that the committee appointed jointly by the president and the prime minister to create a base for a coalition government would begin work immediately.