Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe has said the country was facing its last chance to end years of ethnic fighting and was looking at lifting a ban on the Tamil Tigers (LTTE)
The statement, made in a speech to parliament, is the latest step in a peace process that has gathered pace in the last month, with both sides observing ceasefires.
Mr Wickremesinghe said there was growing international pressure on both sides to end the war, including extra pressure on the LTTE since the September 11th attacks on the United States to give up terrorism and the armed struggle for a political solution .
He said the next step - with Norway's help as a go-between - was to formalise the truce in a pact for peace talks to try to resolve the ethnic war that has raged since 1983 and killed an estimated 64,000 people.
Wickremesinghe did not say when the talks to end the fighting could begin, but political observers do not think they would start before local government elections in early March.
The lifting of the ban on the LTTE was the last major demand of the Tigers after the government had matched a rebel ceasefire - the first truce to be observed by both in seven years - and eased an economic embargo on rebel-held areas.
The quickening process has come since Mr Wickremesinghe and his United National Party were elected on a pro-peace platform in parliamentary polls in December.
The majority of the people wish to work towards a solution through devolution of power democratically, ensuring the territorial integrity of the country and preserving the rights of all sections of the people, Mr Wickremesinghe said.
"The objective of the LTTE in setting up a separate state in the northeast by chasing away the security forces has not succeeded. Likewise we have not been successful in completely eliminating the LTTE though a military solution," he said.