Senator George Mitchell remains confident political leaders will find a path through current political difficulties and realise the full potential of the Belfast Agreement.
He also insisted public support for the agreement remained high.
"I am confident that the vast majority of the people of Northern Ireland and the political leaders want to see this process through and I hope that they will do so."
The man who chaired talks leading to the accord on Good Friday 1998 was in Belfast yesterday in his capacity as Chancellor of Queen's University to attend a conference of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
In a round of political meetings with the SDLP, Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists, Senator Mitchell said forecasts he made in 1998 had come to pass. He warned five years ago that the signing of the agreement did not in itself guarantee perfect peace and stability, rather it made them available and freed politicians to work towards that end.
"There has been significant progress," he said. "And while I share the dismay at the inability to \ the complete implementation of the provisions of the agreement, I'm hopeful and confident the political leaders will be able to see their way through this difficulty, as they have in the past." He insisted his talks with party leaders were personal rather than overtly political and he sought only to encourage each of them in their efforts.
"My input is limited to encouragement," he told The Irish Times and he urged politicians to look to the long term.
His interest in the process remained profound, he said, adding that he no longer had daily involvement. On that basis he said he would not give specific advice to any of them concerning the current impasse.
Of the Ulster Unionist leader's internal party difficulties, he said: "I hope that David Trimble has the opportunity to continue to provide the leadership that he has provided for his party. But I don't think it would be helpful to him or to anybody else for me to try and reinsert myself into the details of the effort." Mr Trimble faces further pressure on his leadership from the anti-agreement element within the UUP at a reconvened meeting on Saturday of the Ulster Unionist Council, which runs the party.
He said elected representatives everywhere had to contend with the conflicts between voicing the concerns of immediate constituents and the needs of wider society. "There is nothing new or unusual in that - it is not unique to Northern Ireland. How that tension is resolved is the test of leadership."
Expressing admiration for and confidence in the political abilities of representatives at Stormont, Senator Mitchell said: "I haven't met a more able and dedicated group of people than the political leaders of Northern Ireland.
"I would stack up members of the Assembly with any other democratically elected legislative group in the world. They have the ability, they have the determination and now they have to see it through."
He said he hoped and expected that Stormont elections, twice postponed, would be held in the near future but refused to deal with specifics on this issue despite repeated questioning.
The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, speaking alongside Senator Mitchell before their private meeting, said politicians would take comfort from what Senator Mitchell had to say.
But he also expressed concern at reports that the British government was planning to dilute the role of an Irish Government nominee on a body monitoring paramilitary ceasefires and the implementation of the agreement.
Urging London to draw back from its proposals, the former Stormont deputy first minister said the four-member monitoring commission should really be focusing on the issues originally conceived for it - the ending of paramilitarism and the scaling down of all military installations.