Northern Ireland and the Border counties of the Republic are to receive a further €144 million in support from the European Union.
Danuta Hübner, EU commissioner for regional policy, signed the operational programme in Belfast which extends Brussels support for the peace process for a further two years.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Brendan Smith and Lord Rooker, a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office, represented the Irish and British governments at the ceremony.
The EU has now allocated €852 million to its Peace 2 Programme since 2000. A previous programme of financial support, Peace 1, distributed some €500 million over five years following the paramilitary ceasefires of 1994.
This is in addition to ongoing support for the International Fund for Ireland which was established after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
Ms Hübner said: "I am delighted to be in Belfast today to confirm the extension of EU support for peace which will allow the programme's vital work to continue and to be consolidated." She said the European Commission understood that economic and social development in support of peace and reconciliation programmes was "not a short-term process".
Peace 2 director Seán Henry claimed the programme had had "a real impact" on both Catholic and Protestant areas. He said more groups, particularly those from Protestant areas, should apply for support, and that the application process had been greatly simplified.
Jim Nicholson, the Ulster Unionist MEP, welcomed the announcement but admitted: "It will be difficult for Northern Ireland to achieve what it has in the past as 78 per cent of the EU's regional funds are earmarked to go to the 10 new member states."
Jim Allister, the DUP MEP, said the funding programme was "on probation". He said: "I am launching a campaign to actively encourage groups within the disadvantaged Protestant community to apply for funding."
SDLP chairwoman Patricia Lewsley also welcomed the new money.