By Xinhua
Cairo : Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday morning met with visiting Speaker of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the official MENA news agency reported.
Without elaborating details of the talks, MENA said the meeting was also attended by Alaa Bugardi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s committee of national security and political affairs.
Haddad-Adel is currently on a visit here to take part in a session of the Organization of Islamic Conference parliamentary union meeting, said the report.
Iran and Egypt currently only have interest sections in each other country after Iran cut the ties in 1980 in protest against Egypt’s recognition of Israel.
Bilateral relations between Egypt and Iran have witnessed gradual improvement in recent years.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said that Iran was ready to reopen its embassy in Egypt in a bid to thaw the two countries’ frozen relations.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country was “on the verge” of normalizing diplomatic relations with Egypt.
“Iran and Egypt’s relationship is going ahead in a natural way,” Mottaki said, without specifying when the ties would be resumed.