The Sri Lankan Trade Minister, Ravi Karunanayake, says two ports on the Jaffna peninsula have been re-opened to international shipping with immediate effect.

Mr Karunanayake said the decision -- taken in the light of the truce with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels -- meant imports from, for example, India could save at least a day's journey time by unloading at either the main Jaffna port of Kankesanthurai or the smaller harbour at Point Pedro.

The Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers have already agreed to re-open the road linking the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the island in just over a week.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service