(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The upcoming visit to Iran by the newly elected president of post-revolution Egypt, Mohammad Mursi, is seen as a landmark event which analysts expect to serve as a cornerstone of rapid and expansive changes not just in the two countries' ties, but in regional equations.

The Egyptian president is due to first visit China and then arrive in Tehran to attend a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit meeting in the Iranian capital on Aug. 30.

The 16th NAM summit will be held in the Iranian capital, Tehran, from August 26 to 31.

NAM is comprised of some 120 member states and 17 observer countries.

Egypt is currently head of the Non-Aligned Movement, founded to advocate the causes of the developing world, and is set to hand over to Iran in the Tehran meeting.

Mursi's visit will be the first by an Egyptian head of state to Tehran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Egypt's official news agency, MENA, quoted sources at the Egyptian presidency as saying Saturday that Mursi "will participate in the summit" on his way back from China.

In Tehran, officials have welcomed Mursi's visit as an event which could be a milestone in ties between the two Muslim world kingpins.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani welcomed Mursi's participation in the NAM summit, stressing Iran and Egypt's importance as two big Muslim states.

Larijani noted that the presence of Mursi in the upcoming meeting is very useful and beneficial.

"Since long time ago, Egypt and Iran as two big Muslim countries have had close ties and played key roles in the Islamic civilization," he added.

Also earlier this month, President of the Middle-East Center for Regional and Strategic Studies Mustafa al-Labad pointed to Iran's invitation to the Egyptian president to visit Tehran to attend the NAM meeting, and said the visit will be "very sensitive".

"In fact, the visit will be very important and sensitive after the present political changes and developments. Iran and Egypt are two great regional countries with great and profound cultures and civilizations, and it is natural for them to consult with each other over regional conditions," Labad told FNA.

"We hope that Mohammad Mursi will melt down the freeze in the two countries' relations by giving a positive response to the invitation," the analyst said.

The visit will mean much, not just for Egypt and Iran, but for Iran's enemies, specially the US which has rushed to voice its strong opposition to the world states' participation in the NAM meeting in Tehran.

Since Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year, Egypt and Iran have signaled interest in renewing ties severed after Iran's Islamic Revolution and Egypt's recognition of Israel, when relations between the two broke down.

Earlier this year, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi officially invited his then Egyptian counterpart, Nabil Al-Arabi, to pay a visit to Tehran. Later, the Iranian foreign minister and his former Egyptian counterpart also held a meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

During the meeting which took place on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the two diplomats conferred on ways to promote the bilateral relations between Tehran and Cairo, and stressed the need for continued consultations in this regard.