Crisis management and regional economic security will be among the topics to be covered at the meeting.

The head of Iran’s strategic foreign relations council, Kamal Kharrazi, has travelled from Tehran to Doha to take part in a three-day meeting on Iranian-Arab dialogue.

Kharrazi, who is also Iran’s former foreign minister, is leading a group of ex-officials from Iran who were involved in the country’s Arab policies.

The Arab-Iran Dialogue, where Kharrazi will be giving the opening remarks, is being joint hosted by the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations of Iran (SCFR) and Al Jazeera Center for Studies.

Officials at the talk are expected to discuss regional economic security and crisis management.

“The participants will also discuss the conditions of economic security in the region, which is threatened by the growing geopolitical and economic divisions among major powers. These divisions have escalated significantly since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war a year and a half ago. In this context, the participants will explore ways to enhance economic cooperation as a means to achieve security between the two sides,” Al Jazeera Center for Studies said in a statement.

The meeting comes as the region embarks on what appears to be a major step towards rapprochement. Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties in March and agreed to re-opened their embassies, marking the end of a seven-year rift.

Alireza Enayati has been appointed as Iran’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, according to reports. It also comes as a number of GCC nations restored full diplomatic and trade ties with Doha following the 2017 political crisis.

Last week, Bahrain became the latest country to officially relaunch flights between Manama and Doha.

Meanwhile, Qatar recently ramped up its unofficial role as a mediator between Iran and Washington by hosting a round of negotiations in Doha in June as part of efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Qatar has also been invloved in mediating prisoner exchange activities between Iran and the US. Doha and the United Kingdom mediated indirect talks between the two sides over a possible prisoner exchange in February.

Qatar and Iran also share a giant gas field, the biggest of its kind.

Iran calls the world’s biggest natural gas reserve South Pars, while Qatar, which owns the North Field, refers to as the North Dome.

Qatar and international firms have utilised the field and transformed it into the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. However, Iran has been able to make similar moves due to crippling international sanctions that have slowed development in its South Pars.

In December 2013, Qatar offered its help in response to a request from Iran to develop its share (South Pars) of the gas field to allow both to make use of the extractions.

The giant gas field holds approximately all of Qatar’s gas production and around 60% of its export revenues.