The Yemen government and the opposition coalition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) were poised late Friday to sign an agreement on the basic principles of dialogue, under the US supervision, DPA reported.
The move came on the day Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born radical Islamist cleric seen as a spiritual leader of al-Qaeda, was killed in Yemen in an airstrike.
Yemen has been in a state of extreme civil unrest since the Arab Spring this year, with embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh fleeing the country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after a rocket attack on his office.
Saleh had previously refused to sign a peace deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The deal expected to be signed Friday is not the GCC agreement, but a declaration of principles of peaceful dialogue.
This comes as a result of three-day roundtable talks led by the United States, with a European participation, in a bid to come up with a peaceful end to the Yemeni crisis which has been overwhelming the country for 8 months.
Several rallies marched Friday in a number of provinces seeking the ouster of Saleh, and strongly denounced a statement made Thursday by Islamic scholars loyal to Saleh which prohibited demonstrations.
Observers say such a ban would make it legal for Saleh forces to kill and arrest protesters taking part in anti-government marches.