President Francois Hollande will leave for Riyadh on Monday on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the extraordinary Gulf Cooperation Summit as guest of honor, the Elysee has announced.

The GCC, involving Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, holds its ordinary summits in December and convenes a consultative summit usually in the spring.

GCC leaders have a scheduled meeting at the White House on May 13 with US President Barack Obama to discuss the controversial Iranian nuclear file.