Suleiman said Lebanon was willing to assist the international tribunal due to start work on March 1 to prosecute suspects in the killing of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

"We are ready to do everything which will be of help to this tribunal," Suleiman said, adding that the panel should be impartial, concentrate on legal issues and not become embroiled in politics.

Hariri and 22 others were killed in a car bomb explosion in Beirut in February 2005. Some anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians have accused Syria of involvement in the bombing, a charge Damascus denies.

The killings led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops after a nearly 30-year presence in Lebanon. The two countries recently re- established diplomatic relations.

Suleiman said his country hoped to exchange ambassadors with Syria by the end of the year.

The two leaders discussed the new political situation in Lebanon following last May's Doha agreement, which ended a week of bitter fighting between followers of the anti-Syrian ruling majority and the opposition led by the fundamentalist Hezbollah.

They also discussed United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the dispute over the Shebaa Farms, an Israeli-occupied piece of land close to the poorly defined border of Lebanon and Syria.

Merkel also expressed the hope that the new US administration of president-elect Barack Obama would help move forward the Mideast peace process by taking up from where the November 2007 Annapolis conference left off.

Merkel said the peace process had faltered since then but hoped Obama and his designated secretary of state Hillary Clinton would be able to provide a fresh impetus.

The Mideast conflict, she said, had ramifications for relations with Iran and the stability of Iraq as well as for Afghanistan.

Merkel said a pilot project established along the Lebanese-Syrian border after 2006 Lebanese-Israeli war would be expanded to other sections of the frontier.

Government sources said the cooperation of Syria was essential for the project to be a success.

Germany would provide instructors and equipment but not police or customs officials, the sources said, adding that Germany has pumped 11 million euros (14 million dollars) into the first stage.

"Lebanon is a mirror of the unresolved conflicts in the neighbourhood and Germany wants to be a fair partner in order to help Lebanon develop," Merkel said.

Suleiman has visited 11 states in the five months since taking office. The two-day trip to Berlin is his third visit to a European country participating in UNIFIL. -DPA