One Shot granted bail
[October 18 2010] 
  

<P>Solheim to make his first visit to Sri Lanka after LTTE’s defeat 

  

Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim intends to make his first tour of Sri Lanka since the Security Forces vanquished LTTE top leaders and eradicated terrorism. Agency reports said Solheim plans to visit Colombo in a bid to mend troubled ties with Sri Lanka, where many had come to see him and his country as sympathisers of the LTTE. 

Solheim, who had a fruitful meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa during the recent UN General Assembly sessions in New York, is due to arrive in Colombo early next year for discussions President Rajapaksa. He also plans to meet Minister of External Affairs G.L. Peiris and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

Solheim who has been to Sri Lanka on a numerous occasions since his first visit here a decade ago led him to broke the controversial 2002 ceasefire agreement between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in May 2009.