Qatar's foreign minister has said recent talks between Qatar and Saudi Arabia had broken a protracted stalemate in the region, one week after the country's prime minister visited Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar in June 2017 over allegations it backs terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the embargo undermines its sovereignty.

"We have broken the stalemate of non-communication to starting a communication with the Saudis," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told CNN on Sunday.

"We want to understand the grievances. We want to study them and to assess them and to look at the solutions that can safeguard us in the future from any other potential crisis," he said without mentioning any possible concessions.

Recent developments have pointed to a possible thaw in relations between the Gulf countries and Qatar. The Qatari foreign minister met senior Saudi officials in October to end the rift. 

Last week, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani attended an annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit held in Riyadh. A final summit communique emphasized the need to increase military and security cooperation to maintain regional cooperation.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that have cut ties with Qatar have issued 13 demands to end the diplomatic rift, including closing Al Jazeera television, shuttering a Turkish base, downgrading ties with Iran and cutting links to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to media reports.

Responding to the charges of Gulf boycott countries, Qatar's foreign minister denied Doha had direct ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, branded by several countries — including Saudi Arabia — as a terrorist organization.

He added that Doha would not alter relations with Ankara in order to resolve the dispute.

"Any country that opened up for us and helped us during our crisis, we will remain grateful for them... and we will never turn our back to them," he said. Turkey initially sent troops, military hardware, food and water to Qatar.

Saudi officials say their demands are unaltered, but people familiar with the talks said Riyadh no longer expected Doha would cut ties with Ankara or close Al Jazeera. Doha wanted Saudi Arabia to restore overflight access and reopen Qatar's only land border, according to people familiar with the talks.

(With input from Reuters, AFP)