The huge economic growth across the island of Ireland during the past 25 years would not have been possible without the Good Friday Agreement, according to business group Ibec.
Speaking at the launch of a report into the economic and social benefits of the political deal in Dublin, Ibec CEO Danny McCoy said there had been record levels of investment across the island and Britain.
"This would simply not have occurred in such magnitude in the absence of of peace supporting stability," he said.
"Such investment has delivered a prosperity that has seen millions of jobs created, hundreds of thousands of new businesses flourish, investment in formerly forgotten communities pour in, all of which has significantly enhanced overall living standards and quality of life for all," he stated.
Much has been said and written about the political impact of the Good Friday Agreement and the fact that it ended Northern Ireland's Troubles, in which more than 3,700 people were killed and tens of thousands injured.
The worst loss of life on one day was in the Dublin and Monaghan bomb attacks carried out by the loyalist paramilitary group the UVF on May 17, 1974, which 33 people were killed and almost 300 injured.
The focus today was on the economic opportunities the agreement has created on both sides of the border since it was signed on April 10 1998.
Ibec published a report to mark the launch of new campaign, "For Peace + Prosperity", which aims to highlight the stability brought about by the deal.
The report said the 25 year period since the signing "has been one of unprecedented improvement in the prosperity and living standards of those living on the island of Ireland."
The focus is on the benefits of North-South Co-operation made possible by the ending of decades of violence.
The audience at the launch was told that "extraordinary" economic growth during the past two and a half decades would not have been possible without the agreement, with record levels of investment across the island.
"The peace dividend" is not simply the sum of rising cross-border trade, but the growing impact stability and certainty, both in Ireland and in Britain has on economic growth and investment," the report stated.
"Peace is a crucial ingredient of certainty from a business perspective where increasingly the future of economic growth is tied to skilled and talented people wanting to live and work in a given location," it said.
"In the absence of peace and security it is highly unlikely that as many highly mobile and skilled workers would have chosen to make this island their home over the past 25 years," it added.
The report also said the decline in violence and growth in economic opportunity "has helped reverse decades of consistent emigration from the island".
With the current political stalemate at Stormont continuing, the report's authors said continuing investment of political capital by all parties is necessary "to keep its core spirit, processes, and principles energise."
It concluded that in order to optimise the full potential of the all-island economy, a new joined-up north-south policy framework should be put in place.
One of the speakers on a panel discussion was Lisa McGee, whose hit comedy series Derry Girls ended with an episode set at the time the Agreement was signed.
She told the audience the series simply would not have been possible without the political deal.
"In comedy you have to leave your characters in a good place," she said.
"So I knew that's where it was going to end for them because of the Good Friday Agreement, if there hadn't been a Good Friday Agreement it would have been a depressing show, so it literally couldn't have existed without it," she added.
