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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (4054)	12/11/2003 5:08:42 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 22250

Presidents of Egypt, Iran hold first summit in 24 years Wed Dec 10,12:25 PM ET GENEVA (AFP) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami went into talks in Geneva, the first such high-level meeting in 24 years. Mubarak was met by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi as he arrived for the talks at a hotel in Geneva, where the leaders were attending a UN conference on information technology. The Egyptian president declined to make any comment as he arrived. The Mubarak-Khatami talks will be the first meeting at this level since Egypt and Iran broke diplomatic ties in 1980 after the 1979 Iranian revolution toppled Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, who received asylum in Cairo. "It is a very important meeting and there are a number of bilateral and regional issues to be discussed," Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said in Tehran. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva and would later speak to journalists, a member of Mubarak's delegation told AFP. Neither side disclosed what would be discussed. "I consider this meeting, which is the first between the presidents of the two countries, as very important," Abtahi said. "Cooperation between these two great Islamic countries is important for the region and the Islamic world." But Abtahi declined to speculate on whether the meeting could lead to the resumption of diplomatic ties. "It depends on the climate of the talks," a top official in Tehran said, asking not to be named. Several meetings between the foreign ministers of both countries have taken place in the last few years, without leading to a resumption in relations. Both countries have interests sections in their respective capitals. Egypt angered Iran with its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and its granting of asylum to the shah following the revolution, and the presence of the shah's tomb in Cairo still rankles with Iranians. Iran angered Egypt by naming a Tehran street after the assassin of Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, and Mubarak said in January that ties could not be normalized as long as Tehran gave sanctuary to "Egyptian terrorists". Ties were particularly bad while Egypt supported Iraq during its 1980-1988 war with Iran. However, trade and other ties have been improving since the 1990s. In June 2000, Mubarak telephoned Khatami, in the first such high-level discussion in 20 years, to congratulate him on Iran's admission to the G-15 group of nations, membership which Egypt supported. Last week, Amr Mussa, the secretary of the Cairo-based Arab League, welcomed the prospect of non-Arab Iran joining the organization as an observer after receiving such a request from Tehran. story.news.yahoo.com