Phuket: Sri Lanka on Wednesday assured India that the process of devolution of powers to the Tamil minority is on course as it tries to resettle over 300,000 civilians displaced by the military conflict in the shortest possible time.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna held talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama for nearly half hour on the sidelines of India-ASEAN ministerial meetings in this Thai island resort.
The talks focused on the resettlement of Tamils living in over 30 temporary camps since the end of the conflict between the military and the Tamil Tigers in May.
"Devolution is part of the constitution and implementation is part of the process. We have made significant progress," Bogollagama told Indian journalists after the talks.
Bogollagama briefed Krishna about steps taken by the Sri Lankan government to resettle and rehabilitate the Tamils and the process of building political consensus over devolution of powers, informed sources said after the talks.
During the discussions, Krishna focused on the plight of Tamil civilians, an issue that has a wider political resonance in India.
"We have impressed upon Sri Lanka that the immediate need to resettle 300,000 Tamils should get top billing in our agenda," said Krishna.
"They have assured us (that) within 180 days they will be able to resettle most civilians."
India has agreed to assist Sri Lanka in the rehabilitation of the Tamils, most of whom fled areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before the rebels were decimated.
This was the first high-level contact between India and Sri Lanka after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit in Egypt last week.
Krishna arrived in Phuket on Tuesday night on a three-day visit aimed at boosting India's multi-faceted engagements with Southeast Asia and East Asia.
India has told Sri Lanka that the manner in which Colombo addresses the "legitimate concerns" of the Tamil population will impinge on the relationship between the two countries.