A joint government announcement on the composition of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning will be made in the next few days, it was announced yesterday. In a statement Mr Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland Minister for Political Development, said work on the commission was at an advanced stage.
The British and Irish governments had approached the governments of Finland, the US and Canada for nominations for members of the commission and these would be passed to the parties in the Stormont talks.
"Arrangements have been put in place by both governments to brief these commissioners-designate later this week. I can say that they are all extremely impressive and we are very fortunate that they have been able to free themselves up to come here."