Russia aims to host Mideast peace meet by end year

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (L) greets Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during an arrival ceremony at the presidential palace in Cairo June 23, 2009.

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Russian president said in Cairo on Tuesday that Moscow aimed to hold a Middle East peace conference before the end of 2009, a move backed by Egypt and which Russia said also had Israel's approval.

Russia, which has proposed such a conference in the past, is a member of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators, along with the European Union, the United States and the United Nations.

"We paid special attention to Middle East issues. We highly appreciate efforts by the Egyptian president to create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation in the region," Dmitry Medvedev said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"(The) Moscow Middle East conference, which we plan to hold before the end of the year, will also contribute to achieving this goal," he said at a joint news conference in Cairo.

Mubarak, speaking after the two sides signed cooperation agreements, said Egypt backed the conference in Moscow.

Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently told Russia that Israel "would, in principle, agree to attend, provided, of course, that anti-peace elements such as Hamas and Hezbollah are not invited".

Moscow is the only Quartet member talking to Hamas, the group that controls Gaza but which is snubbed by Israel and the West. Russia also has good contacts with Israel.

"We have ensured agreement from all countries including the new Israeli government (for the Moscow conference)," Medvedev said later in the day at the Cairo-based Arab League.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters: "We welcome the holding of an international conference in Moscow. But before it can go ahead there must be real improvements."

This included stopping Israeli settlement activity and an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution, he said.

The Palestinians, like Egypt and other Arab states, have dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conditional proposal for a demilitarised Palestinian state.

UNDERSTANDING

Medvedev's trip to Egypt comes less than three weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama visited Cairo to deliver an address aimed at improving Washington's ties with the Muslim world.

In that speech, Obama also said he would "personally pursue" a two-state solution.

"The creation of an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state with the capital in east Jerusalem should become the result of such a settlement (of the Arab-Israeli conflict)," Medvedev said in his Arab League speech.

He also said "mentoring, imposing democracy or directly interfering from outside are absolutely impermissible" in the Arab world.

"Understanding of this fact is growing in the world. The recent speech in Cairo University by U.S. President Barack Obama testifies to this fact," Medvedev added.

Egypt is Russia's leading trading partner in the Arab world, with annual turnover at $4.1 billion in 2008, and Medvedev called for expanding business ties including in nuclear energy, industrial and transport projects.

A Kremlin official said the agenda for Medvedev's talks included boosting Russian grain exports to Egypt, after the trade was hit by a row over quality that led to a Russian wheat cargo, imported by an Egyptian firm, being ordered sent back.

Egypt is the first stop on Medvedev's four-day Africa trip that also takes him to Nigeria, Namibia and Angola.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawaftah in Ramallah and Adam Entous in Jerusalem)