First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness are scheduled to greet Gordon Brown at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, on Monday when he makes his first visit to Northern Ireland as British prime minister.
Mr Brown is due to join the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and leaders of UK devolved assemblies for the first meeting of the British-Irish Council since devolution was restored. The North-South Ministerial Council, another key institution of the Belfast Agreement, will meet the following day in Armagh.
Mr Brown was originally expected to attend a BIC meeting last Friday but that was postponed because of "diary difficulties". There were also initial suggestions that he might not attend the BIC gathering but Dr Paisley made it clear that if Mr Brown did not turn up neither would he attend the council meeting.
Dr Paisley has made a point of emphasising that the East-West relationship should have equal billing with the North-South link, which is why the two institutions are meeting on the same week.
"For too long the East-West axis was the poor relation of North-South business. We are committed to redressing the balance and that is why there will be a British-Irish Council meeting in addition to a meeting between Northern Ireland Ministers and the Republic's Government on Tuesday," said Dr Paisley yesterday.
Mr McGuinness said both summits were important and that significant work could be done at the two meetings.
Monday's BIC summit will involve the British and Irish governments and all the administrations within the UK including Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey.
Representatives of the Government and Northern Executive will attend the North-South Ministerial Council.
Meanwhile, there was further evidence yesterday of significant republican attempts to make the PSNI generally acceptable.
The Sinn Féin MP for Newry and Armagh, Conor Murphy, disclosed that he had sought a meeting with the PSNI to discuss how to address anti-social behaviour in Crossmaglen in the republican heartland of south Armagh.
South Armagh was one of the most hostile areas for the police and British army during the Troubles but yesterday Mr Murphy said Sinn Féin wanted to see the "local community and criminal justice agencies, especially the PSNI, working together to ensure that people can live in peace and safety, free from intimidation, threat or violence".
Mr Murphy said only a small number of anti-social elements were involved but that in recent times a number of people were seriously injured as a result of assaults and other criminal and anti-social behaviour.
A local meeting of over 300 people in Crossmaglen this week decided that the PSNI should be invited to the meeting - a rally protesting against local crime due to take place in the town on Friday night.
And on a similar theme Deputy First Minister Mr McGuinness yesterday announced funding of £570,000 to assist 34 community "re-imaging" projects aimed at replacing paramilitary murals and emblems with images more reflective of a normal or "shared" society.
At the launch of the project, established by the Arts Council, Mr McGuinness said: "I think it is a measure of the journey we have all travelled that I can speak not just for myself but for Ian Paisley when we condemn sectarianism and racism, and he can speak for me. We are both singing from the same hymn sheet and we are sending a very clear message that this is vital work."
