US President George W Bush's new adviser on Northern Ireland is to meet parties next week as they embark on a review of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Mitchell Reiss, who was announced last December as the replacement for Ambassador Richard Haass, is expected to be ratified this weekend as the President's new peace process envoy.
He is due to arrive in Belfast on Monday where he will meet politicians taking part in the review which begins next Tuesday. US officials insist Dr Reiss will be "in a listening mode".
The review will be chaired jointly by British and Irish ministers and will involve all parties elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly last November.
The Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists are hoping to secure radical changes to the Agreement during the process which could last until Easter.
The party wants a smaller Assembly, less government departments at Stormont and major changes to the way Northern Ireland is ruled under devolution.
The cross-community Alliance Party is also proposing radical reforms, including changes to the Assembly's voting system.
However, Sinn Féin and the SDLP have insisted the review should not be treated as a rengotiation of the Agreement.