British finance minister Gordon Brown visits Belfast today for the first time in four years to meet party leaders at Stormont. The chancellor of the exchequer is visiting all areas of the UK and his visit is being treated in that context by the British government.
However, sources in the North's political parties believe Mr Brown is using the talks to prepare the ground for when, as expected, he succeeds Tony Blair before the next Westminster election.
Mr Brown will visit a science park in Belfast where he will address business figures before attending meetings with the leaders of the main political parties in the afternoon.
It is expected that members of all the parties will press Mr Brown for further investment packages or a "peace dividend" designed to make up for what they argue is a shortfall in infrastructure investment over the past 30 years.
Mr Brown's last visit to Belfast, in 2002, was to announce treasury support for just such an initiative, but which was dependent on a fully functioning executive at Stormont raising its own funds for investment through additional local taxation.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin, the DUP, Ulster Unionists, SDLP and Alliance members of a special assembly committee are attempting to agree an agenda for talks in time for more intensive negotiations later this month when Mr Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visit the North.
The committee, a 14-member body set up by Northern Secretary Peter Hain to foster contacts among the parties, met again last Friday for what was termed an "acrimonious" meeting with little progress made.
It has already been dogged by deadlock over the chairmanship of the committee, an issue which forced Mr Hain to intervene.
SDLP and Sinn Féin members again criticised the DUP delegation over the weekend, accusing them of hindering real progress and of attempting to use the committee to "bully" the other parties and Mr Hain himself.
Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said the meeting was "yet another missed opportunity to do real business".
"It is increasingly clear that the DUP are interested only in bullying the British secretary of state and the other parties into allowing pointless debates in a powerless assembly. Sinn Féin, however, will not be bullied by the DUP," he said.
The SDLP's Seán Farren agreed. "Despite some acrimonious exchanges, the talks inched forward," he said.
A programme of meetings was agreed to try to push ahead and make progress, he added.
"However, in order to make progress next week the DUP will need to get real.
"In what was only a summary document they appeared to list no less than 12 preconditions for restoration [of the executive]. There appear to be many, many others. That is just not serious negotiation. The vast majority of the DUP preconditions had absolutely nothing to do with what caused suspension and there is no reason why they should be allowed to hold up restoration," Mr Farren said.
He said the two governments also had to be clear "that this brazen attempt to secure further concessions and side deals will not be indulged by them".
Mr Farren said Sinn Féin also had to "drop its confused preconditions for signing up to policing which fly in the face of Patten".
All sides needed to drop preconditions if progress were to be made, he added.