The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen and Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Paul Murphy have held talks on the state of the Belfast Agreement in Dublin.
Following the meeting, Mr Cowen said the forthcoming review of the Agreement - which is due to begin on February 3rd - would focus on how best to implement it. "Of course we will look at how we can improve the workings of those institutions, but we're not talking about re-inventing the wheel," he said.
Mr Murphy admitted it would be difficult to reach an agreement after the DUP and Sinn Fein emerged from the recent elections to the Northern Ireland assembly as the two largest parties. But he insisted a breakthrough was possible.
"I don't underestimate that it is obviously a difficult three months or whatever in front of us because clearly parties have come back with a renewed mandate," he said.
"All the parties are committed to the principle of devolution, they're committed to the principle of having an executive and Assembly based upon power-sharing as outlined in Agreement so that isn't a bad start."
Today's meeting took place after it emerged that the Taoiseach will meet the Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists at the Irish Embassy in London next week, probably next Thursday.
Earlier, DUP MP Mr Gregory Campbell warned republicans that the IRA must disband before Sinn Féin could enter a power-sharing executive at Stormont.
Mr Cowen and Mr Murphy were meeting under the terms of a British Irish Intergovernmental Conference meeting. Ministers from both governments are expected to jointly chair meetings of the review when it gets under way next month.
Sinn Fein leader Mr Gerry Adams will hold a series of meetings with senior US politicians in Washington including members of President George W Bush's administration. Mr Adams warned in recent days the British and Irish governments not to hold back on their commitment in the Belfast Agreement and in last year's joint declaration on the peace process.