Mr Pugh said there was 'no question' of an open-ended commitment

But at the 2005 festival near Bangor, Culture Minister Alun Pugh repeated his view that the assembly government would not write a blank cheque.

The eisteddfod has had funding problems for years and talks with councils and the Welsh Language Board are planned.

Eisteddfod director Elfed Roberts said this year's event would turn a profit.

Mr Pugh said that this year the assembly government had given the festival �400,000.

We are confident that this eisteddfod will at last show a surplus Elfed Roberts, eisteddfod director

"We think the eisteddfod can make a major contribution to the assembly government's vision of a bilingual Wales but there's no blank cheque on offer.

"We have already invested a substantial sum of public money.

"We will continue to invest in the eisteddfod but there's certainly no question of us picking up an open-ended commitment here."

Mr Roberts said: "We are confident that this eisteddfod will at last show a surplus.

Mr Roberts said talks with local government had been positive

"We are doing things to make the eisteddfod more appealing, bringing in more people, and I think so far we are quite happy."

The 2007 eisteddfod currently has no venue, which could also stop it going ahead.

An offer of a future venue has come from Liverpool but this has caused controversy among some festival organisers.

Mr Roberts said it was one of a number of options for helping the cultural event.

"We have got this invitation from Liverpool but we have also been talking to the Welsh Local Government Association and they have been very, very positive," he added.