Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness is in Washington today for talks with US President George Bush's key adviser on Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass.
The encounter comes as the two governments prepare for a new drive to restore the devolved political institutions in Belfast.
But US influence is now being seen as an increasingly important strand of the effort to restore power-sharing which has been suspended since an alleged IRA spy plot in Stormont was uncovered last October.
Mr David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party has vowed it will not go back into the Stormont administration with Sinn Féin until a major gesture from republicans.
But Sinn Féin is demanding that British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair moves first by implementing outstanding parts of the Belfast Agreement, principally policing and justice issues.
Mr McGuinness was meeting Mr Haass at the Senate Department just 24 hours before the latest round-table talks in Belfast which the UUP has threatened to boycott, describing them as a sideshow.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said the meeting proved Washington's commitment to the peace process. "The White House has indicated that it is prepared to help in whatever way it can," he added.
"Irish America has also an interest in seeing this process moving to its logical conclusion."
PA