RIYADH, Nov 30: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to attend next week’s summit of Gulf Arab leaders, the first time that Tehran has been invited to the meeting, a senior Gulf official said on Friday.

The official, who declined to be named, told AFP that Ahmadinejad would attend the opening ceremony of the summit on Monday.

“Qatar, which is hosting the summit, invited a number of countries and regional and international organisations to attend the opening of the event, including Turkey and Iran,” the official said, without giving further details.

Ahmadinejad’s senior adviser Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi on Thursday said the outspoken president would be at the meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha.

“Mr Ahmadinejad will attend next week’s Persian Gulf Cooperation Council in Doha on an official invitation,” Samareh Hashemi told state broadcasting.

“This is the first time that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been invited to the summit,” he added.

Heads of state from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are due to discuss the violence in Iraq and escalation of the Iran nuclear crisis at the Dec 3-4 summit.

The six oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are also likely to discuss the sliding dollar, as they face mounting pressure either to end their currencies’ peg to a falling dollar or revalue.

The GCC will have to decide whether to stick to a self-imposed 2010 target date for the launch of a single currency, which appears more and more unrealistic as inflation keeps rising.

Samareh Hashemi did not specify in what capacity Iran had been invited but said that the aim of Mr Ahmadinejad’s presence was to boost ties with Arab states.

“The aim of this trip is boosting ties between Iran and the regional nations, especially in the Persian Gulf area,” he said.

“The participation of the president shows that the will of both sides to consolidate cooperation is greater.”—AFP