Alliot-Marie, who is ending here a six-day trip that also took in Malaysia and Singapore, met with her Bahraini counterpart Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmad al-Khalifa over lunch.

The visit, "to a strategic region where France has interests," is aimed at hearing Bahraini views on the situation in the region -- in Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, an aide said.

Alliot-Marie's hosts said they hoped to see every effort to get the reconstruction of Iraq underway after a conflict Paris did not want, the minister's aide said, referring to the US-led war that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

They also expressed concern about a possible deterioration of ties between Iran and the United States.

The French defense minister was due to visit the French supply ship Marne calling at Bahrain late Sunday. On Monday, she will hold talks with Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa and meet the French community here before returning home.

Bahrain is the only Gulf country she had not visited since assuming her post in May 2002.

WAR.WIRE