Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa reiterates the need for the Arab world to hold talks with Iran, saying that there is no replacement for dialogue with Tehran.
In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Ennahar on Friday, Moussa emphasized the inevitability of Iranian-Arab dialogue to resolve outstanding differences, Press TV quoted IRNA as reporting.
The AL chief recalled how during his tenure as Egyptian foreign minister he had urged for dialogue with the Islamic Republic, calling Iran a friend and insisting that the issues between Tehran and the Arab world should not lead to the severance of ties.
Moussa referred to some thorny issues that strained ties between Iran and Egypt and as well as the rest of the Arab world and said, "Thus dialogue is necessary for all viewpoints to be expressed and differences to be reduced."
Moussa, viewed as a major candidate in Egypt's upcoming presidential election -- the first since the ouster of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak in January -- acknowledged that Cairo's weak diplomatic performance under Mubarak had impaired the country's role at the regional and international level.
On the issue of Egypt's relations with Israel, the former foreign minister said any ties with Tel Aviv must favor the ultimate goal of forming a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Arab League leader made the comments hours before he arrived in Kuwait, where he will attend a meeting with a number of think tanks, intellectuals and Arab politicians about the current issues and crises of the Arab world.
He is also scheduled to meet with a number of Kuwaiti officials during the two-day visit.
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