Qatar and Saudi Arabia have held talks that could signal the end of the Gulf diplomatic crisis, Qatar's foreign minister indicated on Friday.Speaking at a foreign policy conference in Rome, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani expressed hopes for "progress" in resolving the Gulf crisis, saying Riyadh and Doha have "moved rom a stalemate".

"We have moved from a stalemate to some progress where ... some talks took place between us and specifically Saudi," the Qatari foreign minister was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera at the MED 2019 conference.

"We hope that these talks will lead to our progress where we can see an end for the crisis."

He added that officials from both states had held talks on several occasions, however refused to confirm recent reports that he had personally travelled to Riyadh to negotiate the blockade's end.