The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, and the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, meet today in an effort to find some common ground.
As a preliminary to more detailed negotiations in the weeks ahead, Mr Adams and Mr Trimble will be seeking mutual assurance of a genuine republican and unionist commitment to resolve the current crisis and see devolution restored.
As the British and Irish governments continue behind-the-scenes discussions with Sinn Féin and the UUP, Mr Adams and Mr Trimble will avail of today's face-to-face encounter to explain their respective concerns, according to sources close to the two leaders.
Against continuing speculation that he could resign his UUP leadership in the short to medium term, Mr Trimble is expected to impress upon Mr Adams that he will lead his party into the May elections, and that he hopes to be reinstated as First Minister afterwards.
Sinn Féin is also concerned that tactically Mr Trimble would prefer to fight an election outside the Executive and Assembly, because he may calculate that by adopting a hard-line stance this might give him a better chance of withstanding the DUP challenge.
The Ulster Unionist source said,however, that Mr Trimble genuinely wanted to be back in government, and that he would make this point clear to Mr Adams today. "He would rather fight an election back in the Assembly and Executive but that must be on the basis of a deal that can stick and can't be unpicked," the source explained.
There is unionist concern that, while the IRA may carry out some "act or acts of completion", they will fall short of what Ulster Unionists require to ensure that a significant portion of the unionist constituency would support the UUP back in the Executive with Sinn Féin.
What appears possible at this stage is at least one more act of decommissioning from the IRA, either in public or recorded on video, and that Sinn Féin would join the Policing Board. Unionist sources say more is needed to persuade Mr Trimble to return to government with Sinn Féin.
"At the very least the IRA needs to redefine what is meant by a cessation of military operations. It has got to end its involvement in international terrorism, it has got to stop targeting politicians, it has got to stop beating up its own people, it has got to be a real ceasefire," said the UUP source.
Republicans feared that, if the IRA made a substantial gesture, Mr Trimble would either repudiate it or fail to actively promote any new deal.
As a precursor to talks due to start towards the end of the month, Mr Adams is expected to seek commitments from Mr Trimble that, if the IRA delivers, the UUP leader will endorse the deal and fight the election on a clear pro- agreement ticket.
