The long awaited deal agreed by the DUP and Sinn Fein, which will see policing and justice powers transferred on 12 April, has been unveiled at Hillsborough Castle in the presence of Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen.
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The two premiers flew in early on Friday morning to seal the deal with the parties, following the DUP assembly group's decision to unanimously endorse the agreement on Thursday night.
Read Ken Reid's blog: The deal is done
First Minister Peter Robinson said the deal will keep Northern Ireland moving forward to a better future.
"This is a good day for Northern Ireland," he said.
"This agreement ensures that as a society we will continue to move forward to a better future.
"It will secure the Assembly for decades to come."
"There are some who will play politics with this agreement but the real focus in the months to come must be on building an administration at Stormont that our whole community identifies with and supports."
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness insisted both communities could and should live together in mutual respect.
"It is hardly a surprise to anyone that it has been a difficult negotiation given the reality that I am an Irish republican and other here have a completely different view," he said.
"This should not mean that we are incapable of respecting one another. Of treating one another as equals and proceeding on the basis of partnership, respect, fairness and equality.
"We need to make life better for our children and grandchildren," he said.
"That is what this agreement must mean in practice."
'Lasting peace'
Gordon Brown said the settlement would help build a lasting peace.
"Let it be said of times to come that decades of violence, years of talks, weeks of stalemate, this is the day we have secured the future.
"A lasting peace. Power being where it should be in the hands of the people of Northern Ireland. The strongest answer to those who would bring violence back to our streets and today's agreement is the opportunity for a fresh start."
Mr Cowen said the Irish government was committed to working with the power-sharing executive and the British Government to ensure the deal laid the foundations for a new future.
He said: "That better future must be built on mutual respect for people of different traditions, equality and tolerance and respect for each other's political aspirations and cultural expressions and inheritance."
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has also praised the agreement.
Mrs Clinton said: "Today, Northern Ireland has taken another important step toward a full and lasting peace.
"The accord they reached today will help consolidate the hard-won gains of the past decade."
The deal meets Sinn Fein demands for the transfer of policing and justice powers, while also setting out a framework to meet DUP calls for a new system to oversee loyal order parades.
Policing and justice powers will be devolved on April 12, with a resolution for a cross-community vote jointly tabled by the First and Deputy First Ministers in the Assembly on 9 March.
A working group comprising of six members will be set up immediately to deal with contentious parades.
It will report back on agreed solutions to the First and deputy First ministers in just three weeks, with a bill finalised before the end of 2010.
The text also aims at making the Stormont Assembly and Executive work much smoother, ensuring greater cooperation of all parties in the power-sharing government.
There is also a pledge to deal with outstanding issues, believed to include protection for the Irish language and promoting the Ulster Scots tongue.
The deal concludes two weeks of marathon talks at Hillsborough Castle, the longest continuous negotiations of the peace process since the mid-1990s. Failure to find agreement would have seen the collapse of the power-sharing government.
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