Ahmadinejad Receives Invitation from Morsi to Attend OIC Summit in Cairo

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received an invitation from his Egyptian counterpart Mohammad Mursi to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit in Cairo next month, Iranian media said Friday.

The invitation was extended during Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi’s visit to Cairo on Thursday, in which he met with Mursi and other officials.

In Egypt, Al-Ahram daily reported that “President Mursi reiterated his invitation for the Iranian president to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit in Cairo.”

An Egyptian source said that President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Egypt would be the first of its kind, stressing the significance of such a visit as it would open the road for future visits.

The two countries are both part of the 57-member OIC, based in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The Islamic republic has expressed its desire to normalize relations with Egypt since the overthrow of President Husni Moubarak.

Tehran had cut ties with Egypt in 1980, a year after the Islamic revolution in Iran, in protest of the country’s peace accord with Israel.