Sri Lankan government negotiators and Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to resume their cease-fire talks in April and to restrain the level of violence between them.
Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim said the agreement came during two days of talks in Geneva that ended Thursday.
Earlier, Solheim had played down expectations of a breakthrough, saying confidence was low.
Sri Lanka wants to make some changes to a 2002 ceasefire accord signed by the rebels. But the Tamil rebels say they will only discuss implementing the existing ceasefire deal.
Both sides blame the other for a surge in violence in December and January that killed at least 150 people.
In the latest incident, Sri Lanka's military accuses Tamil rebels of killing a Muslim man in the east of the country on Wednesday.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.