US Under-secretary of State Nicholas Burns has sent a special letter to Bosnian leaders informing them of his country's decision to participate in the talks, which are expected to continue.
The Muslim member of the Bosnian state presidency, Sulejman Tihic, who was most critical about the outcome of the Washington talks, told Oslobodjenje daily that Burns's announcement was encouraging, as was the position on constitutional changes presented by US Secretary of State Condolleeza Rice. Rice said that the US expected Bosnia-Herzegovina to upgrade its political system and build a more efficient and cheaper state structure.
The president of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Safet Halilovic, too, believes that despite the initial disappointment the Washington talks had eventually resulted in a certain degree of adjustment of positions. Halilovic too believes that the most important fact is that the US will remain involved in the process.
Bosnian Serb officials have expressed satisfaction with the Washington talks, particularly with the fact that they were not obliged to accept any concrete solutions.
The Serb member of the state presidency, Borislav Paravac, said he still believed that the current model of operation of the state leadership should not be changed.
He added that problems in the functioning of the state presidency could be removed by adopting new regulations.
"There is no need for all three of us to appear together at the same places. Rather than advocating our individual views, we should take a common view which would be advocated by the chairman," Paravac said in a comment on the proposed changes to the country's constitution.
The president of the Bosnian Serb entity, Dragan Cavic, however, told Dnevni Avaz daily that minimal changes to both the state presidency and the government were a reality.
"It is realistic to expect the establishment of a state presidency with a chairman and two deputies, with the deputies rotating the office of chairman during a four-year term," Cavic said, adding that the country's government, the Council of Ministers, must become an operating government, with the prime minister having more powers.
The position of Bosnian Croat officials remains unknown because they declined comment on the Washington talks. The leading Bosnian Croat party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), will discuss the talks on Friday.
The media report that the Bosnian Bishops Conference's commission "Iustitia et pax" is dissatisfied with the talks, because it believes that they have confirmed the Dayton peace agreement which it considers unfair. In an interview with the ONASA agency, Cardinal Vinko Puljic has again proposed establishing four regions to replace the two existing entities.