TEHRAN: Saudi Arabia has invited Iran to attend a meeting of Islamic bloc foreign ministers in Jeddah next month, an Iranian official said in comments published Thursday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian welcomed the “friendly” gesture by the Kingdom.

An exchange of visits by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif was high on Tehran’s agenda, he told the Etemad newspaper.

The two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation opens in Jeddah on June 18. Earlier this month, Prince Saud said Zarif had been invited to visit the Kingdom in a bid to negotiate better relations.