Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday congratulated Barack Obama on his electoral victory and urged him to speed up efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

`President Abbas congratulates US president-elect Barack Obama in his name and in the name of the Palestinian people and hopes he will speed up efforts to achieve peace, particularly since a resolution of the Palestinian problem and the Israeli-Arab conflict is key to world peace,` his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

`President Abbas hopes the new administration will continue to make the peace efforts one of its top priorities,` Rudeina said from Budapest, where Abbas was on a two-day visit.