CANBERRA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Tuesday welcomed the power-sharing agreement among Northern Ireland's political parties.

    Northern Ireland's political parties reached the long-awaited agreement Monday on power-sharing in the province, starting on May 8.

    The deal was made at a historic meeting between Ian Paisley, head of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and Gerry Adams, of Sinn Fein, at Stormont, the seat of Northern Ireland's parliament.

    Downer said he never thought he'd see the day when the parties agreed to share power, adding the agreement was something to celebrate.

    "Well I have met both of them. I could not really imagine they would find it very easy to work together," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

    "But this is a wonderful thing that Northern Ireland finally can find peace," he said.

    Both Britain and Ireland have been pushing Northern Ireland's feuding parties to agree to share power, seeing the agreement as a crucial step toward cementing peace in the province which has experienced years of violence.