Hollande-Abbas meeting in Paris on 15 April

Ramallah - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Paris on April 15 to meet French President François Hollande and discuss the French initiative for an international conference on the Middle East, the spokesman of the Palestinian presidency announced Wednesday.

Abbas "will have an important meeting with President François Hollande to discuss the convening of an international peace conference, according to the French initiative," Nabil Abou Roudeina told AFP.

Rudeina said that "France plays an important role in efforts to establish a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in accordance with international resolutions."

Mr. Abbas will also travel to Moscow, where he will meet President Vladimir Putin to discuss "the evolution of the political situation in Palestine and in the region" and to Berlin, where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before attending meetings at the UN in New York, according to the Palestinian spokesman. The dates of these last stages have not been specified.