A new meeting on Syria kicked off in Amman on Monday, with the participation of the foreign ministers of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt.

Prior to the start of the meeting, which is being held in an Amman hotel amidst strict security measures, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal al-Miqdad, according to an AFP correspondent.

Al-Safadi and Al-Miqdad discussed "efforts to launch a leading Arab role to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis," according to a statement issued later by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.

This is the first official visit by a Syrian foreign minister to Jordan since the outbreak of the conflict in his country in 2011.

Safadi received the foreign ministers of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan, and Iraq, Fouad Hussein, before entering the closed "consultative" meeting room.

The meeting comes as a continuation of the consultative meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt in Jeddah, according to what the Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.

In mid-April, a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries was held in Jeddah, in which Egypt, Iraq and Jordan also participated, to discuss the issue of Syria's return to the Arab League, about a month before an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.

The Arab ministers participating in the Jeddah meeting agreed on the importance of playing an Arab leadership role in efforts to end the crisis in Syria.

A few days after the meeting, the Saudi Foreign Minister visited Damascus, in the first official Saudi visit to Syria since the estrangement between the two countries with the start of the conflict in Syria 12 years ago.

Several Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, closed their embassies and withdrew their ambassadors from Syria, in protest of the Syrian regime's handling of a "popular uprising" in 2011, which developed into a bloody conflict, during which Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries supported the Syrian opposition factions.

The League of Arab States suspended Syria's membership in November 2011.

However, over the past two years, there have been signs of rapprochement between Damascus and several capitals, including Abu Dhabi, which restored diplomatic relations, and Riyadh, which held talks with Damascus about resuming consular services between the two countries.