JEDDAH, July 27: Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on the latest leg of his first tour of the Middle East since taking office on June 28.

Mr Allawi, who flew in from Lebanon with a large delegation, was greeted at Jeddah airport by Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. The Iraqi premier's visit "achieves the aspirations of the two brotherly countries and serves the interests of Iraq", the Saudi cabinet said in a statement after its weekly session on Monday.

Saudi Arabia said last month it hoped the US handover of power to Iraq would enable its transitional government to exercise full authority over the war-torn country. The Saudi foreign minister has said his country is prepared to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq once security returns to the country.

Relations were broken off by the regime of deposed president Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War when US-led multinational forces used Saudi Arabia as a springboard to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. -AFP