Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, referring to recent policy disagreements with the United States, said on Monday such differences were part of relations between any two countries and were mostly on tactics rather than on goals.

Referring to Syria, Prince Saud al-Faisal added that the kingdom realised the importance of talks as a means of ending conflict, but such discussions could not go on indefinitely.

The minister was speaking at a joint news conference with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry, who is visiting Saudi Arabia on the latest stop on a tour partly aimed at defusing tensions with Arab powers.