References to certain conditions misleading : Ministry

CERTAIN media reports referring to the meeting in Hong Kong between Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store has been brought to Minister Samaraweera's attention, a Foreign Ministry release said.

The factual outcome of the ministerial discussion of the Sri Lankan peace process is contained in the joint statement issued on Thursday.

References to certain conditions are misleading as the discussions focused on evolving a fresh approach by the two new Governments to carry forward the peace process and including modalities to resume talks at the earliest.

Samaraweera also stressed the importance of formulating a more professional and broad-based approach in this regard, as opposed to the personalised approach of the past.

To this end, a new Norwegian team and a Special Envoy will be appointed shortly, subsequent to the proposed visit of Minister Eric Solheim to Sri Lanka.

The need to make the monitoring of the ceasefire more effective was also discussed.