India will attend next week’s Annapolis Conference, probably the last attempt by United States President George Bush to revive the Israel-Palestinian peace process.

India is yet to send a formal acceptance, but Chinmaya R Gharekhan, India’s special envoy for West Asia, is all set to attend the conference. “India received an invitation and will take part in the conference," Gharekhan confirmed, saying it was appropriate that Delhi had been invited — with its close links with West Asia, India was “well-placed" to help in finding a peaceful solution.

The US-sponsored conference is meant to nudge Israel and Palestinian Authority towards a twonation solution — the establishment of an independent Palestine.

While the main conference — at a naval base in Annapolis, near Washington DC — is on November 27, the deliberations will begin a day earlier in the US capital. The three-day meet includes separate meetings of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with Bush.

Analysts see the conference as the last shot that George Bush has of a foreign policy success before he relinquishes office, most likely leaving the Iraq mess for his successor to clear up.

Officially, the US says the conference is meant to support the ‘courageous’ efforts of Olmert and Abbas in realising “President Bush’s vision of two democratic states”.

At a seminar organised by a Delhi think-tank, Observer Research Foundation, Gharekhan said he expected the event to lead to a “serious negotiating process”.