Iranian speaker arrives in Egypt, attends Islamic summit

Jan 29, 2008, 12:16 GMT

Cairo - In the first visit of its kind, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Gholam Haddad, arrived in Egypt Tuesday to participate in a conference for legislators from Islamic countries.

Haddad plans to attend the fifth Islamic conference to be held in Cairo on Wednesday. The visit comes as part of Iran's effort to normalize its diplomatic relations with the country.

'I hope we would discuss issues of mutual concern that relate to the Islamic world, in addition to negotiating the bilateral issues between Egypt and Iran during the conference,' Haddad said.

Haddad's Egyptian counterpart, Abdul-Aziz Moustafa, said that Iran's presence would support the success of the summit.

He added that the conference was aimed at issuing resolutions on major issues, while highlighting the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iraqi situation and Iran's nuclear programme.

'Many bilateral issues will be discussed during the summit. The Iranian delegation in the conference reflects a strong connection between Egypt and Iran,' Moustafa said.

'The coming days will witness an improvement in relations between the two countries.'

Despite efforts in the last 10 years by both Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his predecessor Mohammad Khatami to resume full diplomatic relations with Egypt, the government in Cairo has been hesitant to do so.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was on the verge of normalizing diplomatic relations with Egypt.

Earlier in January, Ahmadinejad telephoned his Egyptian counterpart Hosny Mubarak to discuss regional crises in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

The contact was the latest sign of a thaw in relations between Iran and Egypt, which have had no diplomatic ties since 1979.