Egypt's Culture Minister Faruq Hosni who is a candidate to head UNESCO said he was prepared to visit Israel.
"If you invite me, if you send me an invitation, I will come" he told Israel's mass-circulation newspaper Yediot Aharonot.
But Hosni warned that such a visit should be "carefully prepared, up to the last detail", because of the outcry it would create in Egypt.
Hosni came under fire last month from Israel for saying that he would burn Israeli books.
However, Mr. Hosni told the newspaper he had used a "popular expression" and pointed out that his words had not been recorded in the minutes of the People's Assembly session.
In his interview, Hosni reiterated he would not allow distribution of Israeli books or movies in Egypt. "I'm not willing to have a cinema burned down in Cairo or Alexandria because an Israeli film is shown there", he said.
He added he does not hate Israel, but said it is too early for a normalization of cultural relations.
