NUSA DUA/CAIRO: Egypt’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that the next parliament, which will be elected in September, will review the establishment of diplomatic ties with Iran.
Nabil El-Araby told the official MENA news agency that he informed his Iranian counterpart, who he met in Bali during a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, that his country wants to open "a new chapter with all countries."
"El-Araby said the issue of raising the diplomatic representation will be reviewed by parliament," the agency reported.
Egypt’s military rulers — who took power when president Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising — have dissolved parliament and said elections for the People’s Assembly would take place in September.
Iran and Egypt have no diplomatic ties and relations between the two countries were tense under Mubarak.
Iran severed diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1980 in protest at Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel signed a year earlier, and the two states maintain only interests sections in each other’s capitals.
But the two Muslim countries have signaled they plan to mend ties in the wake of the Feb. 11 fall of Mubarak’s regime.
Speaking at the opening of the 16th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday warned of new strategic rivalries as the world deals with complex challenges including terrorism and religious conflict.
He called the 118-nation group "largest movement for peace in history."
"We must encourage the major powers to maintain stable and cooperative relations. We must help to ensure that the seismic power-shifts do not lead to new strategic tension," Yudhoyono told the assembled foreign ministers.
"Where possible, we should encourage a constructive process of cooperative security so that enemies become friends, and friends become partners."
Yudhoyono called for total nuclear disarmament and encouraged all nations to "resolve disputes and conflicts through dialogue, negotiations and other peaceful means."
The Non-Aligned Movement had changed the course of history in the 20th century and would be a force for stability and peace in the decades ahead, he added.
"But our good work is far from finished. And our movement is far from perfect. That is why, the best way for our movement to be relevant is to be pertinent to today’s challenges, and responsive to opportunities," he said.
He said challenges facing the international community included economic imbalances, regional flashpoints such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, resources competition, terrorism and religious intolerance "including Islamophobia."
