Gulf foreign ministers will meet their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the Saudi capital next week to discuss developments in Syria, Kuwait's foreign minister said on Thursday.

"A meeting will be held with the Russian foreign minister and the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council on March 7 in Riyadh," Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah told Kuwaiti MPs.

A senior Iraqi security official on Wednesday hailed improving security ties with neighboring Saudi Arabia amid a tentative rapprochement between the two countries in recent weeks.

Deputy interior minister Adnan al-Assadi said Baghdad and Riyadh had already discussed working together on measures against terrorism, illegal narcotics, organized crime and cross-border smuggling, and would soon hold talks on prisoner exchanges.

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that it would honor a pledge of $3.75 billion in aid to Egypt, after complaints by the Egyptian premier that donor countries were failing to respect their commitments.

"The kingdom pledged to support Egypt in meeting the challenges facing its economy through a series of financial commitments totaling $3.75 billion," Prince Saud al-Faisal was quoted as saying by the official SPA news agency.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday called for "change" and "free elections" in Syria, which has been rocked by violent clashes between government forces and rebels.

"Iraq backs change in Syria," Maliki told Saudi newspaper Okaz in an as-yet unpublished interview, excerpts of which were released by his office in a statement.

Saudi Arabia on Monday accused some countries of being complacent regarding the bloodshed in Syria.

"The kingdom holds all parties that delay international action (on Syria) morally responsible for developments there, especially if they continue being complacent and ignore the interests of the Syrian people," a statement said.

Iranian warships that docked in Saudi Arabia this month were part of a "training tour for students" in the Islamic republic's navy, the state news agency SPA reported on Saturday.

It said officials at Tehran's embassy in Riyadh submitted a request for two ships and a helicopter to dock at Jeddah between February 1 and 7.

Saudi Arabia's delegation on Friday walked out of the "Friends of Syria" international meeting held in Tunisia to protest what it called "the meeting's inefficiency."

“Focusing on humanitarian aid is not enough and the only solution is a consensual or forced transition of power,” head of the delegation, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said.

A delegation of senior Iraqi officials has visited Saudi Arabia in the latest sign of apparently warming ties between the neighbors, Iraq's interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

News of the visit came after Shiite-led Iraq said it would approve the nomination of a new ambassador to Baghdad from the Sunni-ruled kingdom -- the first since 1990.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that dialogue on Syria was "futile", the official SPA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Russia should have "coordinated with the Arabs... before using the veto" to block a resolution on Syria in the U.N. Security Council, King Abdullah was quoted as saying.

Former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed slammed on Monday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s assumption of the premiership, accusing him of only serving his personal interests.

He told MTV television: “His position at the head of the government is the biggest catastrophe for Lebanon.”