British prime minister Gordon Brown is expected to join Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Belfast next Monday for the first meeting of the British Irish Council since the restoration of Northern Ireland's devolved government.
A meeting of the North South Ministerial Council could also take place in Armagh a day or two later, although sources last night were unable to confirm this date.
Both bodies were established under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, and both meetings seemed set for delay until the autumn after the DUP signalled an unwillingness to proceed with the North-South encounter without a commitment from Mr Brown to preside at a prior meeting of the British-Irish Council.
The DUP is eager to develop the council as a counter to an exclusively cross-Border focus on areas for potential co-operation, and it is understood provision has now been made to provide the council with its own full-time secretariat.
The DUP has also received an unexpected boost from Scotland's nationalist first minister, Alex Salmond, who is enthusiastic about developing co-operation between the UK's devolved institutions in addition to the bilateral Scottish-Irish relationship.
Welsh first secretary Rhodri Morgan - who secured Labour's backing for a powersharing deal with Plaid Cymru at the weekend - is also expected to attend next week's meeting, along with the representatives from Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.