Invitation for Mubarak to visit Iran Khatami: there are still differences

The Iranian President Muhammad Khatami said that there are still differences between Egypt and Iran despite the summit meeting they held in Geneva last week. This is at a time Tehran had extended two invitations for Mubarak to visit it by the beginning of 2004.

Iranian official news quoted Khatami as saying on Saturday, that despite the fact that Iran and Egypt are seeking to expand the scale of bilateral relations and adopt matching view points on issues like Iraq and Palestine, yet there are still certain differences and consideration, but he did not specify the nature of these differences. In a diplomatic manner, he said that the two countries still have the chance to achieve progress in a context of reciprocated understanding and good intention.

For his part, the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher said that Iran and Egypt will "work to take steps towards further consolidation of relations." He added to journalists in Cairo that he hoped the developments will be "conducive to the restoration of relations between the two countries." He stressed the "need of taking additional and preparatory steps by the two sides in order to achieve our objective," noting that Iranian- Egyptian consultations are continuous in every and each occasion that allows for consultation."

Tehran announced yesterday it had extended two invitations for Mubarak to visit Tehran in February. The spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry Hamid Rida Asifi told journalists in Tehran "Iran also extended the invitation to Mubarak to attend the meeting of the Islamic states in Tehran in February." But he said that Iran did not receive an immediate answer for the invitation. He also said that the invitation was extended to Mubarak to attend the "8 developing countries summit" which will be held in Iran by the end of January, 2004. He explained that "the invitation was extended to Mubarak to attend the summit but the list of Presidents who will be attending the summit was not set yet."