Norway willing to resume role as facilitator - Stoltenberg
 

from Upali Rupasinghe in New Delhi

Responding to President Mahinda Rajapakse's request that Norway resume its role as facilitator for peace talks between the Government and the LTTE, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told a select group of newspaper reporters in New Delhi that Oslo will be willing to resume its role as a facilitator if both are "serious" and "respected the ceasefire."

Stoltenberg, ahead of his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told that President Mahinda Rajapakse had asked his country to "continue to facilitate (the) peace dialogue."

"We are following (the situation) very closely. We are prepared to continue if both parties are serious, Norway's intervention would "completely depend on the willingness of parties," he said.

He explained that Norway has and will remain neutral and that Oslo did not want to "force or impose" a solution to the conflict in the island nation.

"We are not taking sides," Stoltenberg said in response to a question on allegations about Oslo's proximity to the LTTE. He also denied media reports about Norway's "economic support" to the LTTE.

Asserting that "we are there as long as both parties (in the Sri Lankan peace process) want us to be there. The Premier said a challenge before Norway was to "get the peace process back on the track."

Norway, he said, would sit down both parties and recalled his country's long tradition of facilitating conflicts around the world to observe optimism on restarting the stalled peace process in Sri Lanka.

Stoltenberg, after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "My visit gives me the opportunity to have direct dialogue with the Indian leadership on the Sri Lankan peace process.

It is important that we agree on all matters before we proceed, and more important for Indian and Norway to continue their close dialogue as far as the peace process is concerned.