Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday she was hoping for new movement in the Middle East peace process from the pending launch of a Mediterranean Union between members of the European Union and other littoral states.

A resolution of the Middle East conflict would bring stability to the region, Merkel said in her weekly broadcast.

"Naturally we will talk in Paris about reaching a two-state solution creating a Jewish state for Israel and a Palestinian state, and about who can make a contribution to his aim," she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are among the 44 heads of state and government attending the Paris launch on Sunday as guests of the project's primary initiator, President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Merkel, who had earlier expressed scepticism on Sarkozy's initiative, fearing it would exclude EU members not directly on the Mediterranean, welcomed the launch as giving new impetus to the EU's older initiative, the Barcelona Process.

She noted in particular the flood of refugees and asylum seekers to Europe from Africa, advocating greater EU involvement in helping African countries to develop. (dpa)