Iran's president begins historic Egypt visit [View all]
Source: Al Jazeera
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived in Cairo, marking the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Ahmadinejad flew into the capital, Cairo, to attend a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), which begins on Wednesday. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi kissed the Iranian leader as he got off the plane on Tuesday. Ahmadinejad will also meet with Egyptian officials and politicians during his three-day visit, the official IRNA news agency reported. "I will try to pave the ground for developing co-operation between Iran and Egypt," Ahmadinejad said ahead of the trip. Without elaborating, he said the visit would "definitely influence the bilateral ties" between Tehran and Cairo.
Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reporting from Cairo said "We have not seen a full restoration of ties between the two countries... in the words of the Egyptian foreign minister, the crisis in Syria is the main sore point in present time relations between Egypt and Iran. Any transformation in relations between the two countries is dependent on developments in Syria."
Egypt has responded cautiously to Iranian efforts to revive ties since Morsi took power in 2012, with the two nations adopting opposing positions on the Syrian conflict.Iran supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Egypt has been a leading voice in urging his departure - along with regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
"If Tehran and Cairo see more eye to eye on regional and international issues, many [issues] will change," Ahmadinejad was quoted by IRNA as saying. Tehran severed ties with Cairo in 1980 in protest at a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel by then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Ahmadinejad also expressed interest in visiting the neighbouring Gaza Strip.
Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/02/20132585923942211.html
World famous Sonny Bono look-alike visits Egypt. What could possibly go wrong?
= new reply since forum marked as read