RIYADH: The Saudi foreign minister Saud Al-Faisal said on Tuesday that an invitation has been sent to the Iranian foreign minister to visit the Kingdom, saying that Riyadh is ready to talk with Iran. Diplomatic circles believe that Prime Minister Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif has played a very important role to push Iran and saudi Arabia closer at diplomatic level. Circles maintain that Nawaz had been trying to break ice between the both countries since last October.
“We sent an invitation to the foreign minister to visit Saudi Arabia, but this intention to visit has not become a fact … But any time he sees fit to come, we are ready to receive him,” a foreign news agency quoted Prince Saud as saying at a news conference in Riyadh.
“We’ll negotiate with them, we’ll talk with them,” Prince Saud said.
” Iran is a neighbour, we have relations with them and we will negotiate with them,” the Saudi minister said.
“We will talk with them in the hope that if there are any differences, they will be settled to the satisfaction of both countries,” he told reporters.
“Our hope is that Iran becomes part of the effort to make the region as safe and as prosperous as possible, and not part of the problem of the insecurity of the region.”
