Egyptian official for stronger ties with Iran
Egypt-Iran, Politics, 1/6/2007

Deputy of Egypt's foreign ministry for Asian affairs expressed hope on Saturday that Iran and Egypt would normalize relations.

Ali Houssam el-Din el-Hefiny in his speech in Cairo said that it is in Egypt's interest to consolidate its political ties with Iran.

El-Hefiny added that the Cairo government has extended an invitation to Iran's minister of Culture and the Islamic Guidance Muhammad Hossein Saffar Harandi to attend the annual conference of Supreme Council of the Islamic Affairs with the aim of developing relations with Iran.

He said that the meeting was due to be held in Egyptian capital in line with expansion of the cultural cooperation between the two countries.

According to the Egyptian official, the annual conference of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs has been sponsored by the Egypt's Organization for Endowment and Religious Institutions in Cairo.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Mohammad-Ali Hosseini Thursday welcomed Egypt's willingness to have positive and constructive cooperation with Iran.

Hosseini said there is a host of potentials for the two states' regional and international cooperation.

To this end, Egyptian officials are expected to take major steps toward normalization of bilateral relations, added the spokesman. He assured that the two important countries are able to play strategic roles in establishing peace and stability in the region and defend the interests of Islamic and Arab states against excessive demands of aliens and occupiers.

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi said that comprehensive ties between Iran and Egypt can neutralize enemies' conspiracies aim to cause sectarian strife between Muslims.

Saffar-Harandi made the remark in a meeting with Head of Egypt's Interest Section in Iran, Amr al-Zyat.

"Peoples of Iran and Egypt can enjoy a very close ties and interactions in various cultural, economic, political and international fields with respect to their historical and religious issues of mutual interests," he said.

He added that Muslim nations created great honors after the Islamic era through their scientific and cultural development and establishment of the great Islamic civilization.

He stressed the importance of bolstering cooperation between Tehran and Cairo particularly in cultural fields.

"In the modern history, our nation regarded Egypt as a strong obstacle in the way of extremism of the Zionist regime," the minister said.

He added that the Iranian people strongly defends the country's scientific achievements particularly in peaceful nuclear fields and expressed confidence Islamic states would help Iran materialize its goals.

Al-Zyat, for his part, said Iran and Egypt enjoy a deep-rooted ties in various areas of culture and art.

Pointing to Egypt's stance on Iran's peaceful nuclear program, he added that his country has repeatedly announced at international circles that Iran's case should be settled through negotiations with no tension.

He submitted an invitation of Egyptian minister of Awqaf (religious endowment) to Saffar-Harandi to attend a conference scheduled to be held in Egypt by the High Council of Islamic Affairs to discuss problems of the Islamic world in line with globalization.

Previous Stories:
  Majlis speaker: Iran, Egypt two wings of Islamic world   (10/23/2006)
  Iran has no problem with any Arab state   (8/28/2006)
  Egyptian FM stresses Iran's nuclear right   (8/14/2006)

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