Monday, November 21 2005 09:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ramallah: Palestine would appreciate India's participation in the international peace conference to set specific agendas and timetable to achieve peace in Middle East, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said.

Qurei conveyed this to India's special envoy Chinmoy Gharekhan when the latter met him, Qurei's media advisor Awad Tuaibeh said.

"India can join the international community to enlarge the scope of the peace process and our Prime Minister requested them to participate in the peace conference, which is also one of the steps of the road map," Tuaibeh told sources.

Acknowledging New Delhi as an important player in the international scene, he said India can play an important role in pushing ahead the peace process as it is an influential country due to the relations it has with the key players in the world.

The Prime Minister also conveyed his gratitude to India for its economic support of 15 million USD to boost its efforts to rebuild infrastrutcture, Tuaibeh said.

India has provided economic assistance to PA to set up a a software park in Gaza, a cardiac surgery unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, building the Prime Minister's office in Ramallah and setting up an Indian study centre and Indian Chair at the Al Quds university.

Qurei also briefed Gharekhan about the current political situation and on Israeli actions in the West Bank, mainly the settlement activities, Tuaibeh said.

Palestine also sought international community's intervention to pressurise Israel to faciltitate the January 25 elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council by removing all roadblocks to give Palestinians free access to polling stations, he said.