The British and Irish governments hope that the multi-party talks at Parliament Buildings, Stormont today will at the very least create the potential for the parties building trust that ultimately would lead to a political breakthrough.
Neither of the chairmen of the talks, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, is expecting any sort of political resolution today, but they believe the negotiations could lay the foundations for future progress.
To arrive at that stage however the parties, particularly the Sinn Féin and Ulster Unionist delegations, may first feel inclined to battle their way through some bitter recriminations at Stormont today.
Sinn Féin continues to argue that Mr David Trimble and the UUP are not fully committed to the Belfast Agreement while Ulster Unionists claim that it was IRA espionage at the heart of the Northern Ireland Office and the Executive that forced the collapse of the institutions.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in the House of Commons yesterday told SDLP MP Mr Eddie McGrady that the Belfast Agreement remained the only way forward.
"I think that most people actually do understand that in the end they are going to have to come back and debate these issues and find a way through so that there is completion of all aspects of the Good Friday agreement for all of the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
The DUP and smaller anti-agreement parties are boycotting today's talks which will be attended by the UUP, the SDLP, Sinn Féin, Alliance, the Women's Coalition and the Progressive Unionist Party.
The political leaders will be present except for Mr Trimble who said he had a longstanding engagement to attend the Zurich/Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year luncheon in London today, and present the main award to the winner.
A party spokesman said that Mr Trimble was not snubbing the talks and that the leader of the UUP delegation, Sir Reg Empey, would keep him fully informed on developments during the day.
Sir Reg, who with party colleagues Lady Sylvia Hermon, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson and Mr Michael McGimpsey met President Bush's envoy on Northern Ireland Mr Richard Haass on Tuesday night, said the UUP's bottom line today was "a permanent end to all forms of paramilitarism".
He said republicans must deliver a "full and unequivocal commitment to exclusively peaceful means".
While the British government is shortly to publish new legislation on policing which the governments hope will help convince Sinn Féin that it should join the Policing Board, Mr Michael McGimpsey warned that this would not be acceptable to unionists.
Ulster Unionists could not sit on the Policing Board while the IRA continued to operate as a paramilitary force, he said.
Mr Haass continued his round of political engagements in Belfast yesterday meeting Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the DUP and the smaller parties. He again called for an end to active paramilitarism and urged business leaders to exert pressure on the politicians to break the deadlock.
The Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, after his meeting with Mr Haass, said that today's talks must deal with the implementation of all outstanding elements of the Belfast Agreement. "The governments are going to have to shape up," he said.
He repeated that the negotiations would not be a single-issue agenda dealing with the IRA.
SDLP MP Mr McGrady said that the SDLP would be entering the talks "not to apportion blame but to find a way out of this current deadlock".
