All sides involved in the creation of the Belfast Agreement should feel proud of it, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight.
Mr Ahern made his comments in Belfast this evening after he took part in a conference looking back on the fraught negotiations that led to the 1998 accord which ultimately led to the power sharing arrangement between republicans and unionists that remains in place today.
A deal was reached on April 10th, 1998, Good Friday, after almost two years of negotiations culminated in a marathon final session in which Mr Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair played leading roles.
The outgoing Taoiseach also expressed hope that Northern Ireland would continue to go from strength to strength.
"I think all of us who played a part in the Good Friday Agreement can feel proud of it," he said.
"We are in an evolving situation and I just hope Northern Ireland goes from strength to strength.
"I think the economic conference (organised by the Stormont Executive for May) is a powerful phase and I hope it attracts new investment.
"I think the underlying problem that it has not been possible to tackle - investment, renewal, betteropportunities for people - that is the next phase of it.
"This is not about going back. It is about going forward and forward is renewal."
Former US senator George Mitchell, who chaired the talks, Welsh secretary Paul Murphy, former SDLP leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, were among those who took part.
Current SDLP leader Mark Durkan, Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, loyalist Progressive Unionist leader, Dawn Purvis, and former Alliance Party leader, Lord Alderdice, also took part.
Emotional tributes were paid to two key players in the process who have since died, former Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, and loyalist David Ervine.
Former Women's Coalition Assembly member, Monica McWilliams, said: "Mo was so full of optimism and was so positive.
"I agree with (former Minister for Foreign Affairs) David Andrews, she should never, ever become a footnote in the history of the negotiations."
Paul Murphy paid tribute to the calibre of David Ervine.
"I believe that, if David Ervine had been born in Bradford or in Birmingham, he would have been a very distinguished Labour party politician.
"The great thing he brought was his experience of living among loyalist working-class people."
Gerry Adams also paid tribute to the down-to-earth approach of loyalist parties in the negotiations.
"There was no business of not talking or not shaking hands," the West Belfast MP recalled.
"The people who were there representing the Ulster Democratic Party and the Progressive Unionist Party never had any of that nonsense. They were straightforward and they shook hands.
"David Ervine's role in all of this was hugely significant and, with the exception of the PUP and UDP, working-class unionism has been badly served.
"I think the passing of David is a big loss, not just to that section, but to all of us."
Those taking part include Gen John de Chastelain, who oversaw the decommissioning of IRA weapons; Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness; former SDLP leader John Hume and his successor Mark Durkan; Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams; Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey; former minister for foreign affairs David Andrews; former Progressive Democrats junior minister Liz O'Donnell; former Northern Secretary Paul Murphy; Prof Monica McWilliams, formerly of the Women's Coalition; former Alliance leader and first speaker of the Assembly, Lord Alderdice; Progressive Unionist Party leader Dawn Purvis and former representative of the Ulster Democratic Party, David Adams.
First Minister and DUP leader Dr Ian Paisley is in Washington where he is preparing for next month's investment conference, also to be held in Belfast.