RIYADH: Saudi Arabias King Salman has invited Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi to visit the kingdom, Al Abadis office said on Monday, in the biggest sign yet of improving ties between the countries after decades of tension.
Al Abadis office gave no details about the invitation or possible visit, which would be his first as prime minister, including when it might take place. But the invitation caps months of better cooperation between Riyadh and Baghdad since the prime minister replaced Nouri Al Maliki last summer.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia have found new room to cooperate with each other in the fight against Daesh, which both see as a threat, but long-held suspicions persist.
Saudi Arabia hopes Al Abadi will do more to include Iraqi Sunnis in the government than Al Maliki did, and will prove more able to distance himself from Iran, Baghdads main ally and Riyadhs biggest regional foe.
His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia in his turn expressed Saudi Arabias desire to open horizons of cooperation with Iraq … and gave an invitation to Prime Minister Al Abadi to visit Saudi Arabia, said the statement on Al Abadis offices website.
Riyadh said last year it would reopen its Baghdad embassy soon, after closing its doors in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait, but ensuring the missions security is complicating the process, diplomats in the Gulf say.
Since a US-led coalition invaded Iraq in 2003, Saudi Arabia has regarded Baghdads leaders as little more than puppets for Tehran, something relayed in numerous US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.