The King gave the Pope a sword made of gold and precious stones. The Pope gave the King a 16th century engraving and a gold medal with his seal.

It could be a scene from any time over the last 400 years. However, it took place last week, between Pope Benedict XVI and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Although Abdullah, as crown prince, had met Pope John Paul II in 1999, this was the first ever meeting between a pope and reigning Saudi monarch.

The significance of the meeting is not yet fully clear. The statement that followed it, for example, did not announce that diplomatic relations were going to be opened between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia. Nor is it known if the subject was even discussed.

Nonetheless, the importance of the meeting should not be underestimated. The half-hour meeting was conducted via interpreters. So it was even shorter in practice than 30 minutes might suggest. But what was agreed surprised even some veteran Vatican-watchers.

Apart from agreeing on "the necessity of finding a just solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the two leaders agreed on the importance of "collaboration between Christians, Muslims and Jews for promoting peace..." In the guarded language of diplomacy, "collaboration" is markedly stronger than "dialogue".

The question to ask is whether such an agreement is likely to have important practical consequences. The high status of the Pontiff and the King may both facilitate and hinder positive developments in the relations between Christians and Muslims.

On both these aspects I can speak from a modest amount of personal experience. I have had the privilege of travelling on official delegations both to the Vatican and to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

At the Vatican, we were given a guided tour of apartments that are usually off limits to visitors. The beautiful artworks and décor almost made me feel giddy.

In the kingdom, which I visited in 2005 as a member of a delegation led by the enchanting MEP Lilli Gruber, we met Abdullah, then still Crown Prince.

At the palace, the foyer was like a village piazza, with gilded settees everywhere and on which there sat the elder members of the Saudi family in full regalia. The corridors were wide, everywhere seemed to be made of marble and granite, gorgeous chandeliers hung everywhere and the waiting room was sumptuous. In the Crown Prince's study, the cream-coloured silk Persian carpets covering the floor particularly caught my eye.

At both the Vatican and at the King's palace, the rarefied atmosphere gave one a sense of the gracefulness and dignity that humanity was capable of. It was truly inspirational, removed from the messiness of everyday life.

For this very reason, however, one can doubt whether leaders operating in this environment can have a real influence on the behaviour of those who manipulate street religion for political purposes.

In the case of Abdullah, the situation is more complicated. The sumptuousness of the palace was guaranteed by the tightest of security measures, which included barricade upon barricade of sandbags, not to mention the little detail of eight armoured tanks.

The King rules, and rules alone. The oil revenues belong to him, not the state. It is he who decides the closely guarded defence budget. But he still needs to adapt the system he has inherited to the pressures that come from below, pressures for liberal change as well as Islamist pressures.

Whatever King Abdullah may privately think about the co-existence and collaboration between religions, he still needs to take into account the sentiments of the various interested parties in his country. As he told Ms Gruber, during our audience with him, when she somewhat audaciously pressed him on women's rights, it may be easier to grant women the vote than give them the licence to drive...

So leaders can propose, but they may not entirely dispose as they wish.

However, there may also be some advantage in the distance between the hurly-burly of street politics and leaders such as Benedict XVI and King Abdullah. If they can bring about real collaboration in areas that might have little to do with hurly-burly politics, they might gain the breathing space they need to make progress without immediate political repercussions. Having gained that space, they might then be able to bring about more important changes.

Such progress would be important to Malta. Peace between Christians, Muslims and Jews would undoubtedly benefit our open economy.

Maybe it is time to consider whether Malta can help this initiative along. Our credentials are surely in order. We are not only close to the Vatican. We are also, proportionately, the largest non-Muslim recipients of Saudi foreign aid - as, two years ago, Abdullah himself made it a point to tell me...

Dr Attard Montalto is a Labour member of the European Parliament