Israel’s tourism minister, Haim Katz, is in Saudi Arabia for a U.N. conference, marking the first public visit by a senior Israeli official to Riyadh as the two countries move toward normalizing diplomatic ties in a U.S.-brokered effort.

This comes as the first Saudi ambassador to Palestine made a trip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank — the first time a Saudi delegation has visited the region since 1967. Nayef al-Sudairi met with Palestinian officials, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah.

Nayef al-Sudairi: “Good evening, Your Excellency. I am proud and happy to be in my country, Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, God willing. Hopefully, next time, or next times, we will go together to Jerusalem.”

Saudi Arabia has said it will only normalize relations with Israel if there is progress in the creation of a Palestinian state.