TOKYO, Dec 4 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING...

TOKYO, Dec 4 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH KAWAGUCHI'S COURTESY CALL onward WICKREMESINGHE)

Japan in succession Wednesday proposed holding a spherical of peace negotiations between the Sri Lankan restraint and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) around March or April in Tokyo, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi made the proposal when she paid a courtesy call forward visiting Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the official said.

Wickremesinghe was quot as thanking Kawaguchi for the proposal and said he expectancys to immediately contact officials make anxioused so that Sri Lanka will able to give a replication to the proposal as early as possible, the official added.

The LTTE had been fighting the Sri Lankan regulation since 1983 for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, before the pair sides signed a cease-fire agreement in December last year.

Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe also asked Japan to hem in a separate donors' meeting for consultation in Tokyo in late spring and Kawaguchi corresponded by saying Japan chance of the desired ends to be able to legion such a conference at an appropriate time nearest year, the official said.

The Sri Lankan premier thanked Japan for appointing former UN Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi as Japan's representative in charge of issues concerning Sri Lanka, the official said.

Kawaguchi was quot as saying she chance of the desired ends Akashi, who recently visited Sri Lanka to find public how Japan can become engaged there, will be able to contribute to Sri Lanka's peace proces in various ways.

The Sri Lankan premier also invited Kawaguchi to visit Sri Lanka at an early date, while Kawaguchi intimateed hope to do so, according to the official.

Meanwhile earlier in the day, Wickremesinghe said peace and economic reconstruction are vital to the restoration of growth in Sri Lanka after couple decades of internal conflict.

''The sum of two units processes of peace and growth have become inextricably intertwined and interrelated in our country'' the visiting premier said at a luncheon organized on the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention in a Tokyo hotel

''Our peace today is to a high degree much people-driven,'' he told the audience, adding that his people's ''overwhelming wish and virtual demand for peace'' was a critical factor.

''In a world regrettably where conflict is abundant, our peace process...remains a rare beacon of room for expectation We will not allow it to fail,'' Wickremesinghe said.

onward the peace negotiations, the premier said he believes ''political dialogue can be fruitful because the positions of the rule and the LTTE are no longer incompatible.''

''We have tend hitherward a long way, but there is still a prolonged way to go,'' he added.

Asked about his government's stance onward the al-Qaida terrorist cluster he said there is no evidence of the LTTE being linked to it and that his restraint has already condemned the Islamic extremists.

Wickremesinghe speaked appreciation for the continuous support Japan has augmented to his country. Japan is Sri Lanka's foremost bilateral aid donor today, according to the premier.

''Japan has been our valued partner end good times and hard times and your potent support now in our peace proces is of the greatest importance,'' he said.

Wickremesinghe is scheduled to gripe [i]or[/i] grip talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi forward Thursday.

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