Berlin  - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Moroccan counterpart Taieb Fassi Fihri discussed the slow progress in peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians when they met in Berlin Tuesday.

Steinmeier said there was still a chance the two sides could come to a framework agreement this year in line with the Annapolis process initiated by US President George W Bush in November last year.

An agreement would not have to resolve all outstanding issues but had to outline the process towards reaching a two-state solution.

Continued Israeli settlement building on the West Bank was not helpful, Steinmeier said.

Fassi Fihri stressed the significance of the Annapolis process. Israel had the right to secure borders and the Palestinians to an independent and viable state, he said.

Reconciliation efforts between the rival Fatah and Hamas organizations had to be intensified, if a Palestinian state was to be created, Fassi Fihri said.

The two foreign ministers also discussed the situation in North Africa following the recent attacks in Algeria, Morocco's eastern neighbour.

A double bombing on Sunday aimed at a French construction firm left at least 13 people dead, according to Algerian reports.

The dead included a French citizen and his Algerian driver, who were killed in the initial blast. A second bomb went off as emergency workers and police arrived at the scene, the report said. (dpa)