ERBIL — King Salman of Saudi Arabia has been officially invited to attend the upcoming Baghdad Regional Summit, an official statement said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi is organizing a meeting between the leaders of the neighboring countries of Iraq scheduled for the end of August.
Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Sunday arrived in Riyadh where he met with his Saudi counterpart to hand an official invitation from Kadhimi to King Salman.
During the meeting, according to a statement by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, the two officials also reviewed the bilateral ties between the nations and ways to expand cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
King Salman was the third leader in the region to receive the invitation. Hussein invited Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan a day earlier while visiting Ankara.
Prior to that, Iraq had sent an invitation to Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait.
BasNews previously reported that although not neighbors of Iraq, leaders from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt are also invited to the summit due to their significant role in the regional affairs.
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The meeting comes amid preparations for holding a decisive parliamentary election in Iraq while the country is already struggling with multiple security, political, and economic crisis.
Iraq is also hoping to enhance relations with other countries in the region to survive its prolonged hardships. Meanwhile, some political analysts believe one goal of the summit could be the mediation between Iran and its regional rivals, on top of which comes Saudi Arabia.
Iraqi President Barham Salih revealed earlier this year that Baghdad had hosted “more than one” meeting between Iranian and Saudi negotiators in April to help the two nations address their disputes.