DRAFT MEDIA RELEASE

PLENARY SESSION 10 NOVEMBER

A Strand 2 Plenary session was held today, following four weeks of bilateral consultations among delegations and between individual delegations and the Chairman.

The Chairman reported that, while progress had been achieved in the course of these consultations, it was not such as to enable parties at this stage to agree on a basis for settlement.

The Chairman noted that the meeting of the Anglo-Irish Conference on 16 November would bring to an end the agreed interval between Conferences and that accordingly the talks would come to an end.

The Chairman expressed his hope that this would not mean that negotiations would be brought permanently to an end. Talks participants had set themselves ambitious objectives on entering the 3-Strand process. Those objectives had not yet been achieved, despite the good will and intense effort all parties had put into the negotiations. However, they continued to be valid and, in the view of the Chairman, achievable.

The parties to the talks had laid a firm foundation for future progress. They had reached agreement on principles on which to base any new structures; they had identified and discussed most, if not all, of the elements which would comprise an eventual settlement; they had developed a clear understanding of each other's positions and established constructive dialogue on ways in which an accommodation might be reached on some of the key issues which divided them.

All parties recognised the value of this dialogue and agreed to enter into informal consultations in the new year with a view to devising a formula which would enable further talks to be held.