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11 January 2013 - 11:54

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has met with Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and discussed mutual ties and the crisis in Syria.

During the Thursday meeting, Salehi expressed Iran’s readiness to provide the experience it has gained since the victory of the Islamic Revolution to the Egyptian nation, adding Tehran and Cairo “can complement each other.”

He also extended the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's invitation to the Egyptian president to visit Tehran.

Referring to the ongoing unrest in Syria, the Iranian foreign minister stressed the importance of holding talks to resolve the crisis, noting that what is important in Syria is ending the violence, restoring peace and providing welfare for its nation.


“The Syrian issue will be resolved only through negotiations and otherwise the entire region will be affected by its negative impacts,” he said.

He noted that the contact group, comprising Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, would be an “appropriate mechanism” for settling the Syria crisis and expressed hope that constructive measures would be adopted within this framework.

During an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the Saudi holy city of Mecca in mid-August, 2012, Egyptian President Morsi put forward a proposal for the establishment of a quartet group to discuss the Syrian crisis.

Morsi, for his part, expressed satisfaction over the meeting with the Iranian delegation and called for cooperation between the two countries at different levels.

He added that he would pay a visit to Tehran in an appropriate time in response to his Iranian counterpart’s invitation.

Egypt attaches significance to relations with Iran and cooperation among countries in the Muslim world, he pointed out.

The Egyptian president also stressed that Iran is an important country in the region and plays a key role in developing friendship among nations.

He further urged Muslim countries to take steps to stop the ongoing violence in Syria.

We strongly oppose military intervention in Syria, Morsi said.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants fighting the Syrian government are foreign nationals.

Several international human rights organizations have accused foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes.

Earlier on Thursday, Salehi also held talks with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr and the UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi.

Salehi and Brahimi discussed the peace plans laid out by both Iran and Syria to end the conflict in the Arab country.

The Iranian minister also voiced Iran’s readiness to help settle the ongoing unrest in Syria.

The issue of Palestine was also top on the agenda in the talks between the top Iranian diplomat and Arab League chief.
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News ID 183920