Significant differences emerged between the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP in their interpretations of the governments' propositions, particularly on the relationship between the proposed intergovernmental council and the North-South ministerial council.
Sinn Fein said it would discuss and assess the document, but warned that any dilution of the Framework Document would be seen as the result of unionist and loyalist pressure over the past two weeks, and would be "a very serious matter".
The UUP maintained that the North-South council would be "under the umbrella" of the intergovernmental council, which it referred to as "the Council of the British Isles". In the two governments' statement, the term "British Isles" is never used. The UUP said that any North-South relationship would also be "firmly under the control of the Northern Ireland Assembly".
Mr Seamus Mallon of the SDLP said the phrase being used to explain the relationship between the intergovernmental council and the North-South council was that they would "operate independently in their designated areas of responsibility". He said this was an important phrase.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, welcomed the document and said the time had come to get minds concentrated so that the parties could begin negotiating a lasting agreement.
"It is our intention, as a party, to study their proposals very carefully and in great detail, and to respond to them in the talks process." He believed the statement addressed "the central issues and the central relationships that go to the heart of the problem".
The UUP said it was clear from the statement that the British government was committed to a Northern Ireland assembly based on proportionality within the UK. It said the assembly would decide on what was the most suitable means of carrying forward North-South co-operation.
UUP leader Mr David Trimble said there was "nothing in this paper which obstructs or flatly contradicts the sort of outcome towards which we are working".
He said it was clear the Irish Government's territorial claim over Northern Ireland would end. Mr Trimble said they were looking at a "United Kingdom outcome" and an assembly within it. He said there was a commitment to replace the Anglo-Irish Agreement with a new British-Irish agreement which would address "the totality of relationships within the British Isles".
The intergovernmental council, to include representatives of the British and Irish governments, the Northern Ireland administration and the devolved institutions in Scotland and Wales, was "a crucial element which reflected the social and economic reality within the British Isles", he said.
The UUP saw the British-Irish council as the umbrella to cover all the relationships. "Of course, underneath that umbrella there will be a specific North-South relationship, and it will have an area to look at, and within its field, operate without outside interference, but nonetheless it will be underneath the overall umbrella."
He said no suggestion had ever been made that the North-South council "should ever acquire itself any executive functions". Mr Trimble also contended that the Framework Document had been replaced by yesterday's statement, and said this was "the crucially significant aspect".
Sinn Fein chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin said his party would study the document carefully, adding that there was "a widespread and growing concern that, outside the talks process, unionists are being allowed to dictate the pace of events".
Against that background, any dilution of the Framework Document would be, and would be seen to be, the result of unionist and loyalist pressure over the past two weeks. "If this proves to be the case, such an approach would encourage further pressure of the same kind, and demands for concessions from the unionist and loyalist parties," he said.
Sinn Fein had already given notice that it had questions on the document, and the party hoped to satisfy itself that there had been no "dilution or retreat from positions that were already common ground between the two governments". If there had been, that would be a very serious matter.
Mr Gary McMichael of the Ulster Democratic Party, which has links with the UDA/UFF, welcomed the document as "an opportunity to move forward" and said it contained good and bad elements.