Business and trade union leaders in the North have welcomed the creation of the executive, stating that devolution will foster concentration on economic issues.
"The important thing is to end this limbo land where we have no minister to engage with," said Mr Peter Gavan, director of corporate affairs at Viridian Group, which operates Northern Ireland Electricity among other interests.
"From our point of view the thing is to be able to talk and listen to people with executive responsibility. Northern Ireland has a lot of catching up to do. The sooner we're able to concentrate far on the economic perspective the better."
Mr Nigel Smyth, director of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Northern Ireland, said "effective leadership" would be crucial in the new scenario. "We're moving from six to 10 departments. A weakness in the past has been a lack of departmental integration," he said.
On the North-South bodies, 12 of which are to be set up as the Belfast Agreement is implemented in full, Mr Smyth said he hoped they would help to maximise opportunities, particularly relating to energy, transport, the environment and education.
Key issues related to the planning process, the future of Belfast Port, education and health services remained to be addressed, Mr Smyth said.
ICTU's Northern Ireland officer, Mr Tom Gillen, anticipated a "steep learning curve" for all in business, the trade unions and government. "Now the purpose is to see the agreement implemented in full. The politicians will have primacy."
The chairman of the Northern Ireland Economic Council, Ms Janet Trewsdale, said political stability was crucial to foster growth. "Inward investment has already doubled since the first ceasefires in 1994."
Ms Trewsdale added: "Devolution should obviously bring substantial dividends both in jobs and in the redistribution of public expenditure. We would hope that we could now return to normal policing and that there would be a transfer of funds from security into health and education."
Mr Gordon Hamilton, managing director of Hamilton Shipping and Logistics, said he was encouraged by developments since the weekend, but expressed concern that recent progress must be consolidated.
"We've never had any decent economic input from our politicians," said Mr Hamilton. "I've always been convinced that in business, Border issues don't really matter. I don't think there's anything to fear from crossBorder institutions."
A research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Mr John Bradley, said the development of high-tech industries would be very important. These sectors had driven economic growth in the Republic, he said, although they were absent from North-South trade.
This "firm-to-firm" business, a key factor in globalisation, was not a feature of North-South trade, said Prof Bradley, who has undertaken extensive study of the North's economy.
Nevertheless, North-South trade is increasing. In the first six months of this year, the Republic imported £512.7 million worth of goods from North, up from £489.6 million in 12 months last year. A Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment spokeswoman said part of the rise in the first half this year could be accounted for by sterling's strength against the euro.
The Republic exported £653.1 million worth of goods to the North in the first six months this year. This compares with exports worth £723.4 million in the 12 months last year.
