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TOKYO (AFP) - Japan last Wednesday proposed to visiting Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that it host a future round of the country's peace talks in Tokyo next year, officials said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi delivered the proposal to the Sri Lankan premier, who was on a five-day visit to Japan, the officials said.

"Our minister offered a proposal for hosting peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Tokyo in March or April," the official said.

"The Sri Lankan prime minister said he appreciates the offer, and said that he will make an arrangement after consulting the officials in Oslo who are now holding peace talks," the official said. If Sri Lanka accepts the offer, it will be the first meeting on the nation's peace process to be held in Japan, the official added.

The Sri Lankan government and the rebel LTTE have been in negotiations in Oslo, aimed at ending three decades of bitter ethnic conflict which has claimed over 60,000 lives on the island since 1972.

The Prime Minister addressed the business community on Thursday and outlined the Government's policy document 'Regaining Sri Lanka'. The meeting was organised by the Sri Lanka Japan Business Cooperation Committee at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

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