TEHRAN: Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmad-inejad has been invited by his Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Mursi to attend a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Cairo next month, media said yesterday.
The invitation was extended during a visit to Cairo by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who held talks on Thursday with Mursi as well as with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr, Iranian media reported.
The two countries are both part of the 57-member OIC, based in Jeddah, but have not established relations despite the rise to power of Islamists in Egypt.
Tehran cut ties with Egypt in 1980, a year after the Islamic revolution in Iran, in protest at a peace accord with Israel agreed the previous year by then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.
Iran has expressed its desire to normalise relations with Egypt since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, but Mursi and his Islamist backers have been cautious on the issue.
The two countries, who currently maintain only interest sections in their respective capitals, have adopted opposing positions on the Syria crisis.
During his visit, Salehi delivered a letter from Ahmadinejad inviting Mursi to visit Tehran, media said.
AFP
