Philippine President Gloria Arroyo today said she would meet with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to speed up resumption of peace talks with local Muslim rebels on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly gathering in New York.

"I'm going to the United Nations, I'm going to talk with Prime Minister Mahathir about our peace process," Arroyo said in a visit to the southern island of Jolo, long a stronghold of Muslim separatist guerrillas.

Both leaders are expected to attend the UN meeting on Sept 25.

Malaysia is hosting the revival of formal peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main Muslim separatist group in this country.

Officials earlier said Arroyo was expected to ask Mahathir to host the talks ahead of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit to be hosted by Malaysia in the second week of October.

Peace monitors

Arroyo has been invited to attend the opening session of the OIC summit, making her only the fourth head of state outside the 57-member Muslim block to be invited to the meeting.

Arroyo on Monday said she would meet with ambassadors of the OIC to press for the Philippines bid to gain observer status in the grouping, in move expected to to bolster the chance for peace talks.

The OIC has also been fostering the peace process and OIC countries, led by Malaysia, are expected to deploy peace monitors to oversee a ceasefire between the two sides.

Arroyo stressed that any peace settlement would have to be based on the country's constitution and maintain its territorial integrity, adding "we must recognize that our land is a multi-ethnic society."

She also told local officials that she visited Jolo to personally inspect development projects so she could report to the OIC members what the government and foreign donors were doing to uplift the impoverished Muslim areas.

Manila and the 12,500-strong MILF signed a ceasefire on July 18 but the reopening of formal talks has been repeatedly delayed by technicalities. - AFP