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Trade Fair to Improve Tehran-Cairo Ties: Egyptian Official
Tehran, July 1 (IslamOnline) - An Egyptian trade fair, currently being held in Tehran, will improve economic and political relations between Egypt and Iran, the Persian daily Seday-e Edalat Sunday cited the head of the visiting delegation Mostafa el-Kheshen as saying.
"The promotion of trade, cultural, art and sports ties will
certainly lead to the improvement of positive objectives of the two countries in the political field," the paper quoted him as saying.
Egypt inaugurated its first exclusive trade fair in Iran on
Wednesday for the first time after the two countries froze their relations 22 years ago. The country also participated in the Tehran
International Trade Fair last year, the Iranian news agency IRNA said. The six-day exhibition involves 27 companies promoting
handicrafts, textiles and industrial products. The Islamic Republic held two specialized trade fairs in Egypt in 1999 and 2000.
According to Seday-e Edalat, El-Kheshen expressed displeasure over the freeze of ties in the two Muslim countries' diplomatic
relations, severed after Cairo signed a peace treaty with the Israel, IRNA said.
Tehran-Cairo ties started to take off after pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami took office in Iran in 1997. Earlier this year,
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on the sidelines of a developing nations summit.
The two countries, however, have a long way ahead to go before diplomatic relations could be resumed. Several issues have been
sticking points in their ties like the naming of a street which honors the assassin of the late Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat.
Last month, Tehran's City Council agreed to urgent debate on changing the name of the street which has strained Iran-Egypt
relations.
The council said it wanted to rename Khaled Eslambouli Street either for the "martyrs of the intifada", the Palestinian uprising,
or Mohammad al-Dorra, the Palestinian boy whose killing last year by Israeli troops shocked the world.
Cairo has said that the street name is a barrier to restoring
full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Tehran Mayor Morteza Alviri said he welcomed a change of name, as controversial names could "cause annoyance for the two countries."
Islambouli gunned down Sadat during a troop parade in 1981 after Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with
Israel.
Amr Mussa, then Egypt's foreign minister, said in February that there was "no valid reason" why the two nations should not have full
ties but stopped short of calling for a total resumption of relations.
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