Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Larijani is to resume talks with top Egyptian officials today following his return to Cairo from a short vacation in Luxor, al-Masry al-Youm has learnt.
Larijani is scheduled to meet with members of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, foreign ministry sources said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told al-Masry al-Youm Larijani will meet with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, while not being able to confirm if the visiting Iranian diplomat would meet President Hosni Mubarak.
Zaki also confirmed that Larijani is scheduled to visit the Alexandria Bibliotheca.
For his part, Vice President of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Mohamed Ibrahim Shaker told al-Masry al-Youm Larijani is expected to conduct extensive talks dealing with the issues of nuclear non-proliferation and Iran's relations with Arab countries and Egypt.
This came as Iran's Assistant to the President Sayed Mahd el-Fakharani arrived in Cairo on Friday to take part in the meeting of the Islamic States Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), which will tackle the brain drain problem affecting Islamic States.
On Tuesday, Larijani had met with Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Soliman before holding a series of high profile meetings with a number of Egyptian officials and Azhar University scholars, after which he flew to Luxor on a private vacation with his family.
During his talks, Larijani discussed the prospects for the full restoration of diplomatic ties between Egypt and Iran.
Zaki told al-Masry al-Youm Egypt had set forth a number of conditions for restoring diplomatic ties with Iran including resolving security and symbolic issues like Iran's decision to name the street in which the Egyptian embassy in Tehran is located after the assassin of late Egyptian President Sadat and arriving to a consensus over a number of regional issues.
Zaki added that both sides have been engaged in an extended dialogue to overcome contentious points that stand in the way of normalizing ties between the two countries.
Expert in Iranian affairs Mohamed Saeed Abdel Momen said Egypt had expressed reserves over Iran's sheltering of members of extremist groups who were behind the failed assassination attempt on President Hosni Mubarak in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, in addition to the relations between Iranian civil and governmental bodies and Islamic groups in Egypt.
"While Larijani's visit is not official, it is of great significance to Egyptian-Iranian relations given his importance as a key personality to Iran's foreign negotiations and the significance of his post as an advisor to Iran's Supreme Guide Ali Khameni," said Abdel Momen.
"Larijani had been given the green light to discuss many pending issues between both countries, especially security issues," he added.
