United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Burma's leaders and opposition to redouble their efforts to achieve national reconciliation.
Mr Ban said a return to the status quo that existed before the current crisis was "not sustainable".
A UN envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, has just returned to the US from talks with Burma's generals and is due to brief the Security Council soon.
UN human rights rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro is also currently in Burma.
He is investigating how many people were killed in the military's brutal crackdown on September's anti-government demonstrations, led by monks.
The government says 10 people died but diplomats fear the figure was far higher. Many people are still thought to be in detention.
UN briefings
Mr Pinheiro's visit comes amid some signs that international pressure on Burma may be having an effect.
At the end of Mr Gambari's visit last week, detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said - via a statement read by the UN envoy - that she was ready to work with military leaders.
They then agreed to let her meet members of her party for the first time in more than three years. A government-appointed liaison officer also met with Ms Suu Kyi.
In a statement, Mr Ban said that he hoped that this signalled the start of a process of "meaningful and substantive dialogue".
Both the government and the political parties should "redouble their efforts towards achieving national reconciliation, democracy and full respect for human rights", he said.
Mr Gambari was expected to brief the Security Council on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Mr Pinheiro, meanwhile, has been in talks with senior officials from the ruling junta in the remote capital, Naypyidaw.
On Monday, the UN rapporteur visited Rangoon's notorious Insein prison, where political prisoners are held.
He spent more than an hour at the jail and also visited Buddhist monasteries raided by the authorities following the protests.
This is Mr Pinheiro's first visit to Burma since 2003. He has said that he will leave immediately if the authorities do not co-operate with his visit.
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