The two governments yesterday called on the pro-Agreement parties to consider the latest proposals "calmly and carefully" before giving their responses by Monday.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said the package presented the two govern ments' "shared view of the best way forward".
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Northern Secretary, Dr Reid, in Hills borough, Mr Cowen said: "Today's package is the result of our collective endeavours. It's the right package, it's fair and balanced and it's acceptable to all the parties. It can help us to deliver the full and early implementation of the [Belfast] Agreement. I strongly urge the parties to consider it carefully and to reflect before giving us their response . . . I urge them to respond positively.
"Nobody should underestimate the seriousness of the situation . . . The absence of direction and certainty is already being played out in the street. A continuing stalemate can only play into the hands of those who seek to wreck all we have worked so hard together to achieve."
The decommissioning of paramilitary weapons had to be a "voluntary act" that needed the support of the community and was of no greater importance than other issues dealt with in the package, he added.
Dr Reid called for "cool heads, steady nerves and calm reflection", saying it would be tragic if progress from the past three years was squandered.
Dr Reid said both governments believed the package could create the conditions in which the Assembly was able to elect a First and Deputy First Minister by August 12th.
"Nobody should underestimate the serious consequences to the stability of the agreement and indeed the future of Northern Ireland if we can't find an agreed way forward before that date.
"The two governments, and in particular the two Prime Ministers, have worked tirelessly to achieve a solution. We now call on all those with responsibility to play their part in the interest of everyone in Northern Ireland," he added.
Asked if the brevity of the section dealing with the decommissioning issue was not likely to anger unionists, Dr Reid said the input that had gone into each section could not be measured in the number of words.
"I seriously believe that you cannot obtain the full implementation of the agreement by looking at the aggregate of what one or the other community gets but of what the whole community gets. And what the whole community in Northern Ireland gets through the implementation of the agreement is peace, prosperity, a sustainable future for the next generation."
The Northern Secretary rejected suggestions that the package was "tilted" towards nationalists, saying a return to normalisation, demilitarisation and stable institutions was in the interest of the whole of Northern Ireland.