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Iranian, Egyptian Presidents Hold First Direct Contact in Two Decades
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami Wednesday received a phone call from his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, who offered his congratulations on Iran's accession to the Group of 15 (G-15) developing countries.
This is the first direct contact between leaders of the two countries since they cut off ties in 1980, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Leaders of G-15, in their 10th summit which closed in Cairo on Tuesday, accepted Iran's application to join the bloc of developing nations, which was founded in 1989 to counter the power of the wealthy industrialized nations.
In the telephone conversation, Mubarak conveyed the warmest greetings of the Egyptian nation and government to the Iranian president, government and people, and expressed pleasure with the membership of Iran in the G-15, the report said.
He expressed hope that relations between Iran and Egypt will further develop in the future.
On his part, President Khatami said both Iran and Egypt boast of ancient civilizations which helped form the Islamic civilization, and hoped that the two nations will endeavor to reinforce bilateral ties and undertake their effective part in the international arena. Khatami also thanked Egypt for supporting Iran in its bid for G- 15 membership.
The number of G-15 member states has reached 19 after Iran and Colombia were accepted as new members at the two-day G-15 summit.
Other members are India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Kenya, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Iran severed its diplomatic relations with Egypt after the 1979 Islamic revolution as Tehran accused Cairo of signing the Camp David peace accord with Israel in 1979, the first such accord signed by an Arab country.
However, with the foreign policy of detente advocated by Iran's moderate President Khatami, Tehran and Cairo have improved bilateral ties and cooperation in recent years, even though they have not resumed diplomatic relations.
Egyptian officials have called on Iran to remove the hurdle for the resumption of ties by changing the name of a main street in Tehran, which was named after Khaled Islamboli, the assassin of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
In return, some Iranian officials and media urged the Egyptian side to demolish the tomb of former Iranian Shah in Cairo as a condition for Iran to change the street name.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in April that relations between Iran and Egypt, particularly in the areas of economy and culture, had improved significantly.
He said both countries were pursuing bilateral cooperation at the regional and international levels.
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