The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Paris

US President George W. Bush said Friday he was confident that a Middle East peace deal was possible in 2008, as he delivered the keynote speech of a farewell trip to Europe.

"I firmly believe that, with leadership and courage, a peace agreement is possible this year," Bush said at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

CNN report adds: President Bush on Friday urged Europeans to stand firm with the United States as it seeks to transform the Middle East.

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Bush delivers his speech in France in front of images of Paris landmarks.

He compared the Middle Eastern transition Bush seeks to the one the U.S. helped engineer in Europe with the Marshall Plan after World War II.

"There are moments today when the situation in places like the Middle East can look as daunting as it did in Europe six decades ago. Yet we can have confidence that liberty will once again prevail," Bush said in the keynote speech of his European farewell tour.

"We can have confidence because men and women in the Middle East and beyond are determined to claim their liberty-just as the people of Europe did in the last century," Bush said.

Earlier in the day, Bush visited Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, touring the gardens through which the leader of the Roman Catholic Church walks each night.

It was the second time this year the two men met, after Benedict's visit to the United States in April.

Bush, on what is expected to be his last European visit as president, has been pushing tough rhetoric on Iran.

During previous stops in Italy, Germany and Slovenia, he has warned Iran it faces further isolation unless it suspends its nuclear program which the U.S. believes is geared to developing weapons rather than energy.