"At the Arab summit in Bahrain, the situation in the Gaza Strip was discussed, and we want the war to stop," the king said.
"For the first time, the position of Arab countries has been characterized by unanimity on this issue, as it is the responsibility of the entire Arab world."
The Bahraini monarch noted that Russia was the first country which Bahrain turned to for support in holding a peace conference on the conflict.
"There is full agreement among Arab countries on the need to hold a peace conference to resolve the Middle East issue," King Hamad said. "Russia is the first country to which we have turned with a call to support its holding, as Russia is the most influential country on the international stage."
At the 33rd summit of Arab League countries chaired by Bahrain, Arab leaders supported the proposal for a Middle East conference to discuss the issue of creating a Palestinian state in order to end the conflict.
During his talks with Putin, King Hamad also expressed support for normalizing relations with Iran — until recently seen as an enemy by the five-member Gulf Cooperation Council.
"We used to have problems with Iran, but now there are practically none. There is no reason to delay normalization of relations with Iran," the king said.
Good Trends in Blateral Relations
Russian President Vladimir Putin in turn said that there are good trends in the development of trade cooperation between Russia and Bahrain.
"As for the level of trade relations, they are, unfortunately, of a symbolic nature for now, but the trends are good," Putin said.
Much has been done in building relations between Russia and Bahrain, good contacts have been established through the countries' foreign ministries, Russian President Vladimir Putin added.
"Next year we celebrate 35 years of establishing diplomatic relations between our countries. Over these years, much has been done in building relations between our states. We have good contacts between our foreign ministries, and our positions are close on many issues on the international agenda," Putin said.