Khatami to begin Saudi visit today

In the first visit since the Iranian revolution in 1979 of an Iranian president to Saudi Arabia, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami is to begin a five-day visit to Saudi Arabia today.

Saudi sources said the Iranian president will meet with Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, stating that Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh and a group of the committee leaders and economic experts accompanying Khatami will discuss mutual economic and political issues between the two countries, in addition to the situations in the Arab Gulf region and Iraq, as well as means of enhancing and supporting relations between the two countries.

The Iranian president resumed his talks yesterday in Damascus with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in the attendance of the two countries' foreign ministers as part of the discussions held between the two sides concerning the situation in the region and the dangers resulting for hostile moves against Arab and Islamic issues and means of cooperation to confront the dangers.