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In the first initiative of the new Sri Lankan government to revive the peace process, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday announced that Norway has been asked to revive its efforts to bring Tamil rebels to the negotiating table.
He also said that the economic embargo in rebel-held areas in the northeast would be lifted by January 15.
In his first press conference after returning home from a three-day visit to India, Wickremesinghe said that he did not want to raise expectations of a quick solution or early talks with the rebels.
"I want the first steps to be slow and steady. It is only then that we can build a firm foundation for the peace process," Wickremesinghe said. He said there could be many obstacles ahead and he was looking at a timeframe of about one year to see some progress.
"There will be many obstacles and the challenge is to overcome them," he said.
Making an impassioned appeal to play down expectations of an early breakthrough, Wickremasinghe said his idea was to lay a firm foundation for the dialogue process.
"I don't want to create euphoria. But if we have a firm foundation, the talks will not collapse. I would like to see some progress in a year," Wickremesinghe said.
"A start has been made and we must go forward. We will have a positive attitude, but we don't want to create too much euphoria," he reiterated.
Asked for a specific timeframe for starting face-to-face talks with Tigers, Wickremesinghe said he wanted day-to-day problems of minority Tamils to be resolved before starting talks on substantive issues.
He said the economic embargo on rebel-held areas in the island's north-east will be lifted by January 15 and other restrictions on Tamils would be eased by February.
"I can't give a timeframe for starting talks, but it could be after March or so," Wickremesinghe said.
"I know the newspapers want a headline, but I just can't do that. I have to disappoint you," he said.
Wickremesinghe said previous peace attempts with the LTTE rebels to the negotiating table failed because of disagreement over 'humanitarian issues'.
He said the government has not addressed the LTTE's main demand for lifting of the January 1998 ban on them.
The Tigers had said that they want the ban lifted before entering talks. He said the government would have to hold talks with foreign governments, including Australia, Britain, Canada, India and the US, and several others in Sri Lanka before removing the ban on the Tigers.
The Tiger guerrillas in their latest statement issued a month ago appeared to climb down from their hardline stand and dropped the demand for de-proscription.
Tiger leader Velupillai Pirabhakaran said last month that his guerrilla campaign was neither 'separatism' nor 'terrorism'.
It was the closest the he had come to admitting that the rebels have dropped their demand for an independent homeland in the island's northeast.
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