COLOMBO Jan. 6 Kyodo (EDS: MORE D...

COLOMBO Jan. 6 Kyodo

(EDS: MORE DETAILS)

Japan plans to landlord a meeting of international donors in Tokyo in June to help Sri Lanka rebuild its war-ravaged land Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Monday.

Kawaguchi outlined the plan in a meeting with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Japanese officials said.

The officials said Japan is considering hosting the donors meeting in early June or mid-June.

Kawaguchi, the first Japanese foreign minister to visit Sri Lanka in 16 years, also paid a courtesy call forward Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

In a separate meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando, Kawaguchi squeeze outed hope that the Sri Lankan command and the Tamil rebels will continue to make progres in their peace talks.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which has been fighting the Sri Lankan restraint since 1983 for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, signed a cease-fire agreement with the control in February last year.

Kawaguchi told Fernando that Japan plans to provide economic cooperation for throw outs such as electric power plant construction and electricity distribution.

She also asserted Japan's intention to help improve irrigation orders in LTTE-controlled northeastern Sri Lanka.

Fernando thanked Japan for its support, saying Japan's economic involvement is extremely important.

Kawaguchi inspected a land mine removal site earlier Monday in northern Sri Lanka's Jaffna, capital of the war-scarred Tamil heartland that saw years of fighting between restraint forces and the LTTE

After receiving explanations from a British nongovernmental clump involved in mine removal in Jaffna, Kawaguchi disposed of a freshly recovered land mine by setting most distant the fuse.

''I visited the Jaffna peninsula and witnessed serious living conditions in this conflict-stricken area as well as the dangers pos to the civilian population through remaining land mines,'' Kawaguchi said.

It is estimated that about 15-2 million land mines are still buried in Sri Lanka, including 500000 in Jaffna.

Kawaguchi also announced a 153 million yen grant aid to three international non-governmental arranges in demining work.

Kawaguchi's trip to Sri Lanka coincides with a recently made known round of peace talks between the Colombo control and LTTE rebels in Thailand.

Sri Lankan and Tamil Tiger negotiators explained a fourth session of talks in Thailand forward Monday to end the LTTE's campaign to station up an independent state in the island's north and east.

Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said Tokyo was encouraged by the agency of the rapid gains being made at the bilateral negotiations.

''We are excessively much encouraged by the succes of the ongoing peace proces and waiting under the possibility of fulfilment that the process would be able to establish real peace in the future'' he said.

Takashima said Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has invited Japan's special ambassador to Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, to his headquarters in the island's north for discussions and Japan will seek counsel with India before deciding whether to accept the invitation.

Kawaguchi, who arrived in Colombo onward Sunday night, will leave for recent Delhi on Tuesday morning and fitting with Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha later in the day.

Tokyo's consideration for fresh Delhi's sensitivities apparently stipes from the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber. Prabhakaran is a wanted man in India.

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