PARIS, March 30, 2007 (WAFA) - France on Friday hailed the successful outcome of the latest Arab Summit in Riyadh, which ended late Thursday, and praised the Saudi role in furthering the peace initiative coming from the Arab nations.

The outcome was "a great success for Saudi diplomacy...under the personal guidance of King Abdallah," Foreign Ministry officials remarked here Friday.

They noted, in particular, the revitalization of the Beirut peace plan that was first launched in 2002 and noted France had been consistently behind this initiative since its inception.

France said during the Riyadh summit that the Arab peace plan remains the basis for the future peace process, which aims to normalize relations between Arab nations and Israel and return the regional balance to the 1967 borders.

The Plan also aims to create a Palestinian state and resolve the difficult issue of the millions of Palestinian refugees spread across the Arab world.

France has said that this "sensitive issue" must be negotiated by all the concerned parties.

A.D (23:16 P) (20:16 GMT)