CAIRO: Iranian parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian officials amid improving ties between the Middle East s two most populous states, state media said.
It s a great opportunity for relations between Egypt and Iran, Haddad-Adel said on his arrival.
He held talks on Tuesday evening with Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, the imam of Al-Azhar university, the official Mena news agency reported.
But there was no immediate word on the program for the rest of his meetings.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday Tehran was on the threshold of restoring diplomatic ties with Cairo, almost 30 years after they were frozen but was awaiting a signal from Egypt.
We are on the threshold of establishing official, political relations and are waiting for our Egyptian brothers to express their readiness, Mottaki told reporters.
Relations have warmed between the two sides recently, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week making a telephone call to his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak – the first contact between the presidents.
In a rare visit to Egypt earlier this month, Iran s former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani met Egyptian officials and said relations between the two countries were improving. – AFP
