BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS (AFP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at an international conference in Paris later this month, a senior Israeli official told AFP on Sunday.

The two are expected to attend a July 13 summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to launch a new “Mediterranean Union” aimed at boosting cooperation between the European Union and north African and Middle Eastern states.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders would hold one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the meeting.
Olmert, Abbas and their respective negotiating teams have met regularly since a U.S.-hosted conference last November formally relaunched the Middle East peace process after a near seven-year hiatus.
Both leaders, along with U.S. President George W. Bush, have vowed to reach a comprehensive agreement resolving the decades-old conflict by 2009, but the negotiations have so far shown little sign of progress.