The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, has refused to write off the Mitchell review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement. After meetings yesterday with the review facilitator, Senator George Mitchell, and the SDLP, he insisted the UUP was focused on achieving progress in the impasse over decommissioning and the formation of an executive.
"Unlike some others, we have not written the review off," Mr Trimble said.
He expected the negotiations to continue into the weekend. "We are here to see if progress can be made. I can't say at this stage whether that will happen or not, I very most hope that it will.
"We are always trying to find imaginative ways of doing things, but I can't claim to have found the solution as yet. "Let other people speculate," he added. "I am focused on trying to make progress here and now."
The UUP delegation left Castle Buildings but returned later for a meeting with Sinn Fein.
Mr Trimble said the atmosphere in the building was "quite different" to the negotiations leading to the Belfast Agreement.
He paid tribute to Senator Mitchell. "We all owe a very considerable debt to Senator Mitchell who has put a tremendous amount of effort into this. It has been done at considerable sacrifice to himself and his family and we very much appreciate of the wear and tear on him and his family.
"I don't think it is reasonable to expect him to be around forever, but beyond that I can't really say," Mr Trimble concluded.
Earlier, on his arrival at Castle Buildings, Mr Eddie McGrady of the SDLP said the sense of pessimism surrounding the review should concentrate the minds of the pro-agreement politicians. The time was "fast approaching" when Senator Mitchell would give his assessment of whether progress could be achieved.
"It might help in the sense that this pessimism, which I think is fair to comment is there, would be pressure on people to come to a successful conclusion, rather than a negative conclusion."
The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, speaking to reporters while on a visit to Springdale training centre earlier, said while he was neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the negotiations, he hoped they would succeed.
"All the parties are talking very well at Castle Buildings. We've just got to be very patient indeed and we need to take as long as it takes. I'm not going to predict the outcome at this stage. The important thing is we have a tremendous step forward with the Belfast Agreement."
Speaking at Stormont last night as the negotiations drew to a close, Sinn Fein vice president, Mr Pat Doherty said: "The objective of the review is to see that the institutions are put in place and that the Good Friday Agreement is implemented.
"Sinn Fein remains entirely committed to both the objectives," he said. "We know that there is little time left, but we are in there doing our best and the dialogue and the negotiations continue."
Meanwhile, last night in Dublin the SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, warned at a function organised by his party in the Burlington Hotel that the "time for prevarication" was over as far as the review was concerned.
And he urged parties to put the will of the people - that the Belfast agreement should be implemented - before their own sectional interests.
"The Mitchell review offers us a real opportunity to achieve that which the massive majority of Irish people, north and south, want to see, the formation of an inclusive executive and the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons," he argued.
"With that opportunity comes responsibility and it is the responsibility of all political parties who signed up to that agreement to make it work for the good of all those we represent.
"The time for prevarication has long since gone. The opportunity which presents itself must be taken so that we can begin the task of providing good government, and responsible leadership."
In Washington DC, the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs of the US Congress last night urged the Ulster Unionists to allow the executive to be formed. "As the Mitchell review enters its last few hours, we understand the difficulties and concerns of all the parties involved. However, we strongly believe that it would be a huge mistake not to implement the Good Friday Agreement, the best and only deal for peace."
The statement asked unionists to "recognise the imperativeness of the Agreement" and immediately establish the executive.