JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, (AP) -Saudi Arabia will attend a Middle East peace conference proposed by President Bush for later this year, the Saudi foreign minister said Wednesday.

“We are interested in the peace conference,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a joint news conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“When we get an invitation from the minister (Rice) to attend, when this takes place, we will discuss it and we will make sure that we attend” the conference, al-Faisal said.

Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and its presence at a peace conference with the Jewish state would be a diplomatic breakthrough.