Brexit Minister Lord Frost will meet his EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič later.
They will assess whether any progress has been made in negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Šefčovič said this week would be "an important one".
Expectations of progress are low with the UK warning suspending parts of the deal, which leaves Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods, will be the "only option" if talks break down.
If the protocol is causing serious difficulties either side can unilaterally suspend the relevant parts of it by using the Article 16 safeguards clause.
However, UK ministers have said such a move is not imminent.
On Thursday, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said Article 16 was there as a "safety mechanism", but he added they were "not at that point".
"And what we should be doing and what we are doing is working constructively with European friends and partners to explore every opportunity that we have to try and resolve some of our differences around the operation of their protocol," he said.
He added: "That's very much our priority."
The protocol leaves Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods.
That means that goods can flow freely between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, removing the threat of a "hard border".
However, goods arriving into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK are now subject to checks and control - amounting to what is being referred to as an "Irish Sea border".
The UK wants fundamental changes to the operation and governance of the protocol. The EU has proposed a package of measures which would reduce its practical impact.
There has been growing speculation that Downing Street could trigger Article 16 in the coming weeks amid the ongoing stalemate - and the EU has threatened to retaliate, for example with trade measures.
'A serious danger of complete instability'
The Republic of Ireland's minister for European affairs said there was "a serious danger of complete instability in Northern Ireland" because of the row.
Thomas Byrne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Both governments, and including the EU and the United States, have worked for the last few decades together to ensure stability, to ensure peace [and] to guarantee the Good Friday Agreement.
"We now have a division, it seems, because of threats by the British government to what they say is to suspend the protocol under Article 16. We're not entirely clear what that's about."
Mr Byrne said there was already instability in Northern Ireland, citing recent bus hijackings, adding: "What the people of Northern Ireland need to see is both governments working together.
"That's why I'm very glad despite the gloomy atmosphere that there are talks taking place today between David Frost and Maroš Šefčovič - that's really, really important."
He said the Republic of Ireland wanted to continue the talks and added that he was confident that they will be constructive.
Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said "if progress is not made" he expects the UK government to trigger Article 16 "because that is the right thing to do to resolve these issues".
"If the Irish government is worried, they should stop talking up the threat of instability," he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.
"Every day now we have this megaphone diplomacy from the EU side where they're ramping up tension, where they're talking up failure.
"Article 16 is there as a mechanism to deal with the difficulties if negotiations cannot resolve these issues.
"If these negotiations don't reach an outcome I think we are heading towards the UK government taking unilateral action to remove barriers to trade within the UK - to remove the Irish sea border which is seriously impacting on trade within the UK internal market."
He said movement is needed before Christmas.
"Businesses need certainty and the government need to give that certainty."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiN2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLW5vcnRoZXJuLWlyZWxhbmQtNTkyNTIyNDTSATtodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYmMuY28udWsvbmV3cy91ay1ub3J0aGVybi1pcmVsYW5kLTU5MjUyMjQ0LmFtcA?oc=5
2021-11-12 09:05:03Z
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