Saudi Arabia’s King Salman received Iraq’s President Barham Salih and held a lunch banquet in honor of him on Sunday.

Salih is ending a regional tour in Riyadh, where he arrived in the kingdom on Sunday aiming to strengthen relations and discuss developments in Iraq.

The tour involved a short visit to Jordan, preceded by visits to Kuwait the UAE and Iran.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have deepened ties over the last two years, with Riyadh and Baghdad expressing their desires to expand cooperation in various fields, including facilitating trade movement across borders, and coordinating sports events.

Salih, along with other Iraqi politicians, is trying to change the course of his country, which long suffered from wars and political crises.

A moderate Kurd, Salih swept to the post of president of Iraq on October 2 in a parliamentary vote pitting Kurdish heavyweights against each other for the first time.

The role of president has been reserved for the Kurds since Iraq’s first multi-party elections in 2005, two years after the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

Al Arabiya English