Belfast/London  - A new leader of the regional government of Northern Ireland is to be nominated Thursday, following the departure from office of Ian Paisley, the veteran Protestant politician.

He is to be succeeded as First Minister by Peter Robinson, his long-term protege who has also taken over the leadership of the main Protestant Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP).

As Paisley before him, Robinson is to work with Martin McGuinness, of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, as his deputy in a power- sharing government.

Devolved government in Northern Ireland was restored in May 2007 fter Paisley gave up decades of opposition to the idea of cooperation with Sinn Fein, the mainstream Republican party with links to the former Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Last-minute problems over the launch of a new government team led by Robinson and McGuinness were apparently shelved after lengthy negotiations between the two parties, which prompted interventions by the governments of Britain, the Republic of Ireland and the US.

They focussed on Sinn Fein's demand that key powers for justice and policing should be transferred from the government in London to the regional administration in Belfast, in accordance with previous agreements.

DUP opposition to the transfer had threatened to derail Thursday's ceremony amid Sinn Fein threats that McGuinness would not be nominated.

But in a joint statement issued late Wednesday, Robinson and McGuinness said: "We look forward to working together after we have been nominated as first and deputy first minister."

Talks on "outstanding and unresolved issues" would continue Friday, the statement said. (dpa)