Mr David Trimble and Mr John Hume have welcomed the European heads of government decisions on structural funding for Northern Ireland.
"Europe's leaders have recognised the opportunity for a new beginning in Northern Ireland and have allocated special additional funds of £350 million together with continued support for the International Fund for Ireland to help us in the transition to a more peaceful, prosperous and inclusive society," the two politicians said in a statement.
"Although detailed figures have still to be worked out, we understand that the total level of funding will be equivalent to the continuation of Objective One status. This is a very satisfactory outcome and it appears that Northern Ireland has been more generously treated than any other comparable region in the European Union," the statement continues.
Ms Eileen Bell, an Alliance Party Assembly member, said she was glad Northern Ireland had been singled out for further funding by the European Commission. "I hope that this money will be a significant contribution to empowering and sustaining confidence throughout a new Northern Ireland," she added.
The Sinn Fein spokeswoman on the economy, Dr Dara O'Hagan, said her party was giving a "cautious welcome" to the announcement, "despite the loss of EU structural funds and a decrease of 30 per cent from the last peace and reconciliation package".
Ms Jane Morrice, a Women's Coalition Assembly member and former head of the EU's Belfast office, called the decision a "positive proof of European support for the peace process".
Following a British government pledge to make up any shortfall arising from its loss of Objective One status, it became clear that Northern Ireland would continue to receive the equivalent of the £1.5 billion in EU money it received over the past six years. Northern Ireland's £1.5 billion in EU funds during the period from 1994 to 1999 period came both from having Objective One status and from the special Peace and Reconciliation Fund set up in 1994 after the first paramilitary ceasefires. That fund will continue for the next five years with an amount of £400 million, some £80 million of which will be allocated to projects in the Republic.
The contribution from the European Union of some £12 million per annum to the International Fund for Ireland will also be renewed for a period of three years.
At the Berlin summit the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said Ireland had supported the efforts of the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, to obtain funding for Northern Ireland equivalent to that which would have been achieved had it retained Objective One status. He said that now this figure was achieved "another way", through the British pledge to make up any shortfall.