COLOMBO:A surprise meeting between a cabinet minister and the chief negotiator for the separatist Tamil Tigers has pushed ahead a bid to end one of the longest-running wars in Asia, Norwegian mediators said Sunday.

The meeting Saturday in London between the Economic Reform Minister Milinda Moragoda, and Anton Balasingham, a negotiator for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was the highest-level meeting between the two sides since a previous peace bid failed seven years ago.

“The meeting marked a new phase in the ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka,” said a statement issued by the Norwegian Embassy in London.

Norway has been facilitating peace efforts between the government and the Tigers. The war has dragged on for nearly two decades and left more than 64,000 dead.

The two sides agreed to a cease-fire in February. It has mostly held.

Now the sides are trying to resolve details for direct talks, which are to begin in Thailand in the next few months.

“The discussion covered a variety of issues regarding the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and preparations for direct negotiations in Thailand, including the agenda for negotiations, “the Norwegian statement said.

“This was the first direct meeting between a central government minister supervising the peace process and the chief negotiator of the LTTE,” it said. Such a meeting would have been unthinkable even a few months ago.

Moragoda is a member of the Peace Secretariat within his government. The secretariat is charged with supervising the peace process.

The statement did not give a starting date for the talks.

They have been delayed since May by disagreements over confidence building measures.

The meeting Saturday “demonstrated the firm commitment of the parties to the peace process and constituted a major step forward toward peace,” the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgesen, said.

The meeting at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence in London came just days after the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, traveled to the United States to meet President George W. Bush and try to gain support.

The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, is to visit Sri Lanka, possibly by the end of August.

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate Tamil state in the north and east of the country, where their ethnic group predominates.