Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour's Pat Rabbitte will today meet to open preliminary discussions on a common stand for the next general election.
Last night, Fine Gael stressed that today's meeting would "be the first of a series" between the two party leaders.
"The content of the meeting will be about scoping out the parameters of the process and how it will work out from here," a spokesman said.
In reality, the photo-call due to take place at a Dublin restaurant after the meeting has as much to do with symbolism as anything else.
Both Fine Gael and Labour are conscious of the need to dominate the public relations agenda over the summer months.
In time, the two parties will have to agree on the selection of teams of negotiators to tease out areas where the parties can have common policies, though none of this is likely to emerge today.
In addition, the two leaders will have to come to some agreement about candidate selection - which could pose serious difficulties for local constituency organisations in both parties.
The Labour leader's position has been considerably strengthened following his emphatic victory on coalition strategy at his party's Tralee conference.