There is now hope for substantial progress on decommissioning, the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said after yesterday's talks.
Mr Trimble said that while there was still significant work to be done before the June deadline on decommissioning "there is some hope that it will be done over the course of the next weeks and months".
He said the ban on Sinn Fein ministers attending North-South Ministerial Council meetings would be removed if there was substantial progress on decommissioning.
The Provisional IRA statement had shown a degree of commitment, which gave the UUP some encouragement, he said. While there were still serious differences on the policing issue, yesterday's meetings had shown that the parties wanted them resolved positively, he said.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, said progress had been achieved on policing but there remained outstanding issues to be resolved before his party could sign up to the new policing board.
"The judgment of the two governments who are dealing with the policing issues centrally is that sufficient progress can be made by June and naturally we hope that is so. We want to see a police service that has the loyalty and support of all sections of our people," he added.
Sinn Fein expressed disappointment at the statement by the two governments. The party's president, Mr Gerry Adams, said most of the political progress had been made on Wednesday night. He praised the Provisional IRA's initiative on decommissioning but said it had been dismissed by Mr David Trimble.
He hoped the IRA's confirmation that it had had been back in touch with Gen de Chastelain's international decommissioning body would give the UUP "pause for thought". "I am prepared to trust David Trimble and his colleagues but they need to know that Sinn Fein does not have the responsibility, the obligation or the desire to shepherd the IRA into disarming on UUP or British government terms.
The British government needed to live up to its commitments on policing and the ban on Sinn Fein ministers attending North-South Ministerial Council meetings must be lifted, he said.