German Chancellor Angela Merkel Merkel met Sunday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, ahead of talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later in the week.

She praised the Israeli government for its recent peace overtures, saying
"We want to use these hopeful signals which are being sent by the Israeli government to make progress."

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"We need results in order to halt the violence in the Palestinian territories," she added.

Germany will use its presidency of the European Union next year to launch new efforts aimed at helping secure peace in the Middle East, Merkel said in a regular video podcast (a multimedia file distributed by subscription over the Internet) on Saturday.

She said Germany is ready to make "an active contribution" to tackling the Middle East's problems during its EU and G-8 presidency, starting Jan. 1.

Berlin hopes to inject new life into the so-called Quartet of international players that has been trying to promote Middle East peace - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.

Mubarak's visit comes two days before Olmert's visit to Berlin.

In her weekly video podcast, released Saturday, Merkel said that peace in the Middle East can only succeed "if the neighboring states also are encouraged to make their contribution."

Merkel said Egypt, which along with Jordan has a peace treaty and diplomatic relations with Israel, has "a special role in this process."

She stressed the need for "a Palestinian state in which the Palestinians can sensibly develop economically and culturally," and also said there is no prospect of peace in the region unless Israel's right to exist is recognized by all.

"The political process ... must be revived," Merkel said. "Germany will seize the initiative during the EU presidency. Above all, we believe the Middle East Quartet should be revived and here, the European Union has an active role to play."

Merkel was referring to the group of four international mediators - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - who launched the Middle East "road map" in 2003 which was intended to revive talks on a long-term peace.

U.S. President George W. Bush also acknowledged this week the need for concerted efforts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after a report by former Secretary of State James Baker urged Washington to revive U.S. diplomatic efforts.

The German chancellor, who is scheduled to host Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week in Berlin, supported the findings of the so-called Baker Commission report.

"In particular I support a broad diplomatic initiative in which Iraq would also include its neighboring states and would therefore be able to make a contribution towards stabilizing the Middle East region," she said.

Merkel emphasized Israel's right to exist, the importance of a stable and independent Lebanon as well as the Palestinians' right to their own state. In order to secure these, the cooperation of Syria and Egypt would be required, Merkel said.


Merkel says Germany may train Iraqi troops
In a news conference on Sunday following her meeting with Mubarak, Merkel said Germany may offer to train Iraqi soldiers at bases outside Iraq.

Following calls on European governments to do more to help stabilize the country, Merkel said, "I do not rule out that Germany could also take part in training Iraqi soldiers outside Iraq."

Merkel said that while there were no concrete plans for such training activities as yet, officials from Germany's defense ministry were in contact with their Iraqi counterparts.

Earlier, Germany's Social Democrat (SPD) Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected calls from Merkel's grouping of conservatives and from the United States ambassador in Berlin that Germany do more to support Iraq.