British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is to have new talks with President Clinton tomorrow after the latest attempt to break the deadlock threatening the future of the Northern Ireland peace process broke up without agreement.
After 11 hours of talks involving Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams and Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble over two days, Mr Blair admitted there was still work to be done to resolve the problems over decommissioning, demilitarisation and policing.
But he insisted: "I have got no doubt at all that with the right political will we can do so."
Mr Blair has spoken to the Taoiseach Mr Bertie Ahern in advance of their talks in Dublin next Tuesday at a British-Irish Council meeting.
After four hours of intense discussions focusing mainly on policing, Mr Adams said: "I cannot say there has been any great progress made but everybody now has a very clear understanding of everybody else's position."
The West Belfast MP insisted the current difficulties in the process could be overcome with the right political will.
However, he also warned that the scale of the problems should not be underestimated.
Unionists are demanding substantial progress on IRA disarmament, with the terror group re-engaging with the international decommissioning body and carrying out its promise last May to put its weapons beyond use.
However, republicans insist that that offer was dependant on the Blair government honouring its pledges to scale down military installations and operations in areas like South Armagh and implementing the Patten police reforms in full.
They argue the government has failed to honour those commitments.
The SDLP is also under pressure from the government and unionists to endorse policing reforms and to take part in a board which will hold the new police service to account.
Before leaving Hillsborough Castle where the talks also involving Irish and US government officials took place, Mr Blair admitted there was still "a lot more to do".
But he added: "I do want on leaving Northern Ireland this evening to say to the people of Northern Ireland however difficult it is and however problematic and however easy it is to be negative about the whole process, Northern Ireland is a better place today and the process and the mechanisms and the agreement exist in order to make it a stable and secure future for people here.
"We should never ever give up what we have achieved here."
Unionist sources were however tonight still saying that there was no evidence as yet of the shift they require in republican thinking on arms decommissioning.
Anti-Belfast Agreement unionists were also sceptical about today's talks.
Emerging from their meeting with Mr Blair, the Democratic Unionists accused the Prime Minister of being "in a state of denial".
Deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson said Mr Blair was: "propping up a failed process.
"The whole structure is built on one premise - that it is capable of enjoying the support of a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists. His proposals do not do that."
PA