Norway on Friday hosted a meeting of the Sri Lanka Co-Chairs, which brings together representatives from the EU, the US, Japan and Norway for talks on the peace process in Sri Lanka, said reports reaching here from Oslo.

Norway's Minister of International Development, Erik Solheim, chaired the meeting to discuss ways to stop the escalation of violence between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, Norwegian Broadcasting reported.

The representatives focused on "what can be done to get the parties to respect the cease-fire and continue with the peace process," the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said.

Solheim, who also acts as a peace mediator in the conflict, said he is "extremely concerned about the recent upsurge in violence" and asked the parties to "sit down for talks."

"We strongly urge the parties to sit down together for talks in order to put a stop to the violence," the Norwegian Minister said.

Assistant US Secretary of State Richard Boucher was representing Washington at the Oslo meeting, while the EU was sending Deputy Director of External Relations Herve Jouanjean. Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, was also attending the talks.

Source: Xinhua