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BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Belfast on Wednesday in an effort to push forward the stalled Northern Ireland peace process.

In his second visit to the province in a week, Blair met with Catholic and Protestant politicians, who failed to form a multiparty administration by October as directed by a historic Good Friday peace accord signed in April.

Blair was expected to press both sides on setting up so-called North-South bodies -- committees designed to oversee cooperation between the Irish Republic and British-ruled Northern Ireland on issues such as industry, tourism and transportation.

These committees are seen as an important first step toward establishing a government composed of elected representatives of the province's main political parties.

The creation of the administration has been bogged down in a disagreement over the decommissioning of weapons. Protestant leaders want to exclude the Republican Sinn Fein party from joining the government until its military wing, the Irish Republican Army, begins disarming. The IRA has held a cease-fire for 16 months, but refuses to give up its weapons and explosives.

The April agreement calls for armed groups to finish destroying their hidden weapons and stockpiles by May 2000. Blair reiterated his government's commitment to hold all parties to that deadline.

"It is important if we are to make sure that all the elements of the agreement are adhered to, including decommissioning, that we hold to our part of the bargain," Blair said Wednesday. "We will do that, and we have already made it clear we expect every part of this agreement, including decommissioning, to be adhered to and agreed."

Britain hopes that if Catholics and Protestants can agree on the North-South bodies, that success might build an atmosphere of mutual trust, perhaps eventually breaking the deadlock on the disarmament issue.

Correspondent Margaret Lowrie, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.