<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have vowed to meet before the end of the holy month of Ramadan to implement a landmark bilateral reconciliation deal, Riyadh said on Monday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, held their second phone call in less than a week and discussed "a number of common issues... in light of" the surprise agreement brokered by China and announced on March 10, the officials Saudi Press Agency reported.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The two ministers also agreed to hold a bilateral meeting between them during the current month of Ramadan", which this year ends in the third week of April, SPA said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The report did not specify the exact date or location of the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saudi officials have said the meeting is the next step in restoring ties seven years after they were severed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Riyadh cut relations after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in 2016 following the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr -- just one in a series of flashpoints between the two longstanding regional rivals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The deal is expected to see Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia reopen their embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 years ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An Iranian official said on March 19 that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had favourably received an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia from King Salman, though Riyadh has yet to confirm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amir-Abdollahian told reporters the same day that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting between their top diplomats and that three locations had been suggested, without specifying which.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The detente between Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil exporter, and Iran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterised by turbulence for decades. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>