European Commission president José Manuel Barroso will travel to Northern Ireland next Tuesday to pledge his support for the peace process and the devolution of power.
Mr Barroso will meet first and deputy first ministers designate, the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, and hold talks with Northern Secretary Peter Hain. The trip is the first that Mr Barroso has made to Northern Ireland since becoming head of the EU executive. However, he visited Dublin for talks with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in October 2004 shortly before the current commission took up its office.
Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness are expected to discuss continued EU financial support for the peace process and the possibility of other types of co-operation with the EU.
EU sources said Mr Barroso's visit was an attempt to underline his support for the peace process and the political process of devolution in Northern Ireland. Plans for the visit have been in motion since the decision to restart the powersharing executive.
Mr Barroso will fly to Northern Ireland on his return from the EU-US summit in Washington next Monday.
He is expected to offer continued economic support for Northern Ireland from the EU budget. Under the EU's peace funds programme, cash is given to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) to disburse between projects that promote reconciliation in communities in Northern Ireland and the border countries. Since 1989 EU contributions towards the IFI, and a separate programme called Peace I and Peace II, have amounted to €1.2 billion.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland executive said Mr Barroso would visit one of the community projects that had been supported by EU funding. Mr Barroso may also meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, although this has not been finalised by officials working on planning the visit.