Middle East News
Iranian president due in Riyadh Saturday for talks with Saudi king
Mar 2, 2007, 10:35 GMT
Saudi Arabia/Cairo - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, according to media reports.
Ahmadinejad will mainly 'discuss avenues for bolstering bilateral relations, the situation in the Middle East and the latest developments in the region and the world of Islam,' the Saudi Arab News daily reported on Friday quoting Iranian ambassador in Riyadh Mohammad Hosseini.
The bilateral talks are seen by observers as unusual. Saudi Arabia is a close regional ally of the United States - termed the 'Great Satan' by Iran - while bloody ethnic conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq also puts Riyadh and Tehran at polarized positions.
The state religion in Saudi Arabia is Wahhabism, a particularly dogmatic branch of Sunni Islam, while Iran is a Shiite theocracy in which the clergy has the last word on all affairs.
The visit however comes against the backdrop of significant diplomatic developments in the region, including an international conference in Baghdad scheduled for March 10 which will see the joint participation of Syria, Iran and the US among others.
The visit of the Iranian president, which is to last two days, also comes ahead of an Arab League summit in the Kingdom on March 28 and 29.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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