MOSCOW: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit welcomed Moscow hosting a follow-up Middle East peace conference, saying in an interview published Friday that Russia plays in an important role in the peace process.

“Egypt welcomes the holding of the meeting in Moscow, Aboul Gheit, who arrived in Russia on Thursday, was quoted as saying in the business daily Kommersant.

“Russia … plays an important role in encouraging the parties (Israel and the Palestinians) to fulfill their obligations and attain the final objective of the process — the creation of a Palestinian state.

During a conference in the US city of Annapolis last month, Israel and the Palestinians pledged to seek a peace deal by the end of 2008, relaunching negotiations frozen for seven years.

Upon return to Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies the next Middle East peace conference will be held in Moscow.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said Russia proposed at the Annapolis meeting holding a conference on normalizing Israeli-Syrian relations, which could be held by the end of January.