The new union between Europe and its Mediterranean neighbors to be launched today will help countries in the region “learn to love each other,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy will join 42 leaders to launch the Union for the Mediterranean that brings together almost all of the Arab presidents at the same table with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“It doesn't mean that all of the problems are resolved of course,” Sarkozy said ahead of the summit.

“But the goal of the summit is that we learn how to love each other in the Mediterranean, instead of continuing to hate and wage war.”

The president, who championed the idea of a new entity during his election campaign last year, said the gathering of such a large number of leaders around the same table was “a historic event.”

The summit will see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad return to the international stage, but while he will sit at the same table as Olmert no talks between them are planned.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi is boycotting the meeting, while Jordan's King Abdullah II and King Mohammed VI of Morocco are sending senior representatives.

“It will be a meeting of nearly all of the Arab heads of states, all of the European heads of government and Israel, at the same table, in the same room for the same meeting,” Sarkozy emphasized.

The president recalled that the only Arab leader who attended meetings of the EU's Barcelona process, a previous initiative that also sought to strengthen relations between Europe and the Mediterranean, was Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

The launch of the new union, the centerpiece of France's EU presidency, comes after much diplomatic coaxing by Sarkozy, who personally urged leaders to turn up.

While commentators cast doubt as to whether the Union will have much substance, they concede that Sarkozy scored a diplomatic feat by bringing together the leaders.

The summit is providing an opportunity for France to step up its Middle East diplomacy, with Sarkozy hosting talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders after welcoming the presidents of Syria and Lebanon.

The summit, starting at 1330 GMT, will be held at the glass-domed Grand Palais that was built for the Paris Exhibition in 1900.

-AFP