COLOMBO, Feb 18: Leaders of Sri Lanka's new opposition alliance, in a bid to allay fears of the business community, have assured the private sector would be allowed to play a vibrant role under a future government.

Leaders of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), a coalition of the centrist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Marxist JVP or the People's Liberation Front, met business leaders late on Tuesday night to spell out their economic policy.

"The alliance believes that the private sector has a vital, even decisive, role to play not only in the economic development of the country but also in other spheres of national life," Lakshman Kadirgamar, a senior leader of the alliance, said.

The two socialist parties formed an alliance last month with the objective of toppling Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe whose United National Party (UNP) has traditionally favoured business and encouraged free enterprise.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who was elected in December 2001 with a pledge to revive the economy and achieve peace by negotiating with the Tamil Tigers, has been subject to severe criticizm by the main opposition led by the President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The new alliance has slammed Wickremesinghe economic policies saying they are determined by international lending agencies with scant regard for local priorities.

Mr Kadirgamar told business leaders that the new alliance would follow a policy with emphasis on local production.