Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh Saturday returned after a three-day Sri Lanka visit during which he discussed the peace process with that country's leaders.

Indian officials said the trip had helped consolidate bilateral relations, both economic and political.

Natwar Singh met President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Somawansa Amrasinghe, head of the Marxist Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), a key government ally.

The JVP has threatened to quit the coalition government June 16 if the government does not give up its plan to sign with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a tsunami aid-sharing deal.

The meeting between Singh and Wickremesinghe took place over breakfast Saturday.

"The two leaders had extensive discussions on the present political crisis in the country and the peace process," said an aide to Wickremsinghe, who was prime minister between December 2001 and April last year.

"They also reviewed bilateral relations in the context of growing relations between the two countries," the aide said.  

Singh Friday co-chaired the meeting of the joint commission with his Sri Lankan counterpart Lakshman Kadirgamar, focussing on bilateral economic cooperation and promoting small development projects in the island nation.

He told Kumaratunga and Rajapakse that India supported a broad-based peace process involving all communities in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has also accepted India's offer to design an air defence system to counter LTTE's newly acquired air capability. 

The air defence offer was first made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when Kumaratunga visited New Delhi a week ago.