The British and Irish governments will invite the pro-agreement parties in Northern Ireland to talks later this month after the publication of a policing reform package and criminal justice proposals.
The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr John Reid, said a deal on the North had been "tantalisingly close" last week and all sides needed to reengage.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said there was a political necessity and a moral obligation on the IRA to put its weapons beyond use. Such a development was "an indispensable part of the Belfast Agreement" and a recognition that exclusively democratic politics would be used to resolve the conflict.
There were strong hints over the weekend from republicans that the IRA was considering withdrawing the offer to "put arms beyond use" which Gen de Chastelain confirmed last week it had made to his decommissioning body. However, there was no indication of when any IRA withdrawal might occur.
In a move to re-engage the pro-agreement parties in negotiations, the two governments are likely to invite them next week to join in an implementation group to examine the outstanding issues of policing, demilitarisation and the stability of the institutions established under the Belfast Agreement.
Such a forum could help to keep any political momentum going, following publication of proposals on policing. At the very least, it would provide an opportunity for the parties to meet and to address their various difficulties in relation to implementing the agreement.
In that regard, Mr Cowen expected details of the implementation plan on policing to be published later this week. In an interview on RTE's This Week programme he said he expected that "the essentials of Patten can be achieved, based on legislation and the undertakings given and on the detailed implementation plan itself".
The Northern Secretary yesterday said he believed a solution to the political problems in the North were "tantalisingly close". "It is possible," Dr Reid said, "for us to tackle the longest-running problem in British and Irish history."
But Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein said the political process was in "a very grave crisis". Both he and Mr Gerry Adams continued to blame unionists and the British government for the latest impasse.
"Gen de Chastelain reported very great progress. Our duty now is to ensure that whatever agreements were made between, for instance, the IRA representative and Gen de Chastelain can be pursued with vigour."
Interviewed on the BBC's Breakfast With Frost programme, Mr McGuinness added: "I would of course advise everybody to hang on in there and continue to try and fully implement the Good Friday agreement."
Mr Adams spoke out against the suspension of the Stormont Assembly during a speech to a rally in west Belfast to commemorate the 1981 hunger strike.
"It isn't OK to have all-Ireland structures stood down, it isn't OK that Sinn Fein ministers haven't been accorded their rights and entitlement to do the job they were elected for. It isn't OK that the British government are trying to hold on to plastic bullets and trying to force a democratically accountable police service," he said.