When we look at what has been achieved in such a relatively short period, we gain a renewed sense of the importance of preventing the development of a political vacuum. The seeds of fruitful change have been sown and it would be unthinkable to abandon the Agreement without giving it the necessary time to mature and produce a maximum yield. We must continue to nurture the Agreement and to ensure that the transition from paramilitarism to exclusively democratic means is clearly advanced towards a definitive and unambiguous end-point. We cannot allow the process to descend into deadlock.