The leaders of the Parties’ delegations were Mr. Austin Fernando, Secretary of Defence and Col. Karuna, LTTE Eastern Commander. Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) chaired the meeting. A representative of the UNICEF was also present.

The parties were open and focused during discussions and recommendations were made to the coming Peace Talks in Japan on March 18 to 21, the SLMM said today. The recommendations include the following:

The parties considered it necessary to create an economical strategic document to outline the development of effective financial system facilitating investments and project development in the North and the East.

The parties fully endorsed the planned workshop arranged by the UNICEF in Kilinochchi for the development of a plan of action for children affected by armed conflict and proposed a follow-up workshop to be held in Kokkadicholai.

The SLMM will facilitate, chair and record the meetings between the LTTE and the Muslim community agreed in the fifth round of Peace Talks in Berlin to commence the meetings before the next round in Japan. Government agencies will also attend the meetings.

This meeting was the second one in a series of monthly meetings to reinforce respect for the ceasefire agreement, as decided upon at the fourth session of peace talks in Thailand in January. The leaders of the delegations and the Head of SLMM will report on the progress made and any outstanding problems to the next peace talks this month, the SLMM said. Published: Sat Mar 1 12:36:23 EST 2003

``If they (the Tamil rebels) break it, they are going to be in trouble,'' he said. ``I'll not go alone down this road. I'll go with the international community, so that the promises they make are kept.'' He did not elaborate.

The rebels could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam had been fighting to carve out a separate state for the nation's ethnic Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. About 65,000 people were killed during the civil war.

The majority Sinhalese, who make up 74 percent of Sri Lanka - 's 18.6 million people, are mostly Buddhists. Tamils, who are Hindus, make up 18 percent of the population.

A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire signed last year has paved the way for five rounds of peace talks. A sixth round is scheduled for March 18-21 in Japan.

The truce has halted hostilities but remains fragile. A week ago, navy officers and rebel cadres came dangerously close to a confrontation when the navy attempted to detain seven armed rebels whom it said entered a government-controlled area. European truce monitors defused the situation and the rebels were allowed to go free.

Wickremesinghe, on a private visit to India, was scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and other officials.

He was also expected to sign an agreement on information technology development.

Earlier Friday, Sri Lanka - 's government and Tamil Tiger rebels signed an agreement formally giving the World Bank control over aid aimed at rehabilitating the island's war-torn northeast.

The agreement was signed in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, 275 kilometers (170 miles) north of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, said a statement issued by a joint government and rebel committee handling the rehabilitation. Published: Sat Mar 1 01:09:47 EST 2003