Tehran - Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim arrived in Tehran on Saturday to prepare for the upcoming Iran-Brazil summit, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Amorim conveyed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the written approval of President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva for attending the summit in Tehran in the near future, without however setting a specific date.

"We welcome the visit of President Lula de Silva and hope that the summit will lead to strengthening of friendship between the two nations," Ahmadinejad told Amorim.

IRNA quoted also Amorim as hoping that the summit would expand bilateral ties and lead to a new political and economic world order.

Amorim's three-day visit to Tehran is also aimed at implementing bilateral economic agreements made earlier between the two countries.

"We should indeed seek a new world order as the existing global system is decaying," Ahmadinejad said.

Since the presidency of Ahmadinejad in August 2005, Islamic Iran has expanded its ties with socialist countries in Latin America such as Brazil, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Observers however believe that neither political nor economic ties with Latin America would help Iran overcome the international isolation and financial sanctions imposed on the country due to its defiance to suspend its controversial nuclear enrichment programmes. (dpa)