Salehi: Tehran-Bern Must Fully Utilize Potentials To Expand Ties

Tehran, June 17, IRNA -- Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, in farewell meeting with outgoing Swiss Ambassador Livia Leu Agosti, said that Tehran and Bern must take full advantage of their entire unused capacities for expansion and strengthening of ties. According to the Media Head Office of Iran's Foreign Ministry, Salehi appreciated the Swiss ambassador for her efforts made for the expansion of bilateral relations. The Ambassador of Switzerland, Ms. Agosti, for her part, in the meeting appreciated the satisfactory cooperation of the IRI Ministry of Foreign Affairsˈ officials with her during her tenure in Iran, saying, “Tehran-Bern relations have roots in remote history.” She added, “Iran is a country with an ancient culture, history and civilization.” Leu Agosti emphasized, “We need to open a new chapter in Iran-Switzerland relations to enable us to take maximum advantage of the existing capacities at the service of expansion of our bilateral relations. Switzerland has had a consulate in Tehran since 1919 which was raised to the status of embassy in 1936 and also represents the interests of some countries, including United States and South Africa, in the Iranian capital Tehran. Beginning in 1984, victims of the Iran-Iraq War received medical treatment in Switzerland, while Swiss companies were doing multi-billion dollar business with Iraq at the same time. After the severe earthquakes of 1997 and 2003, Switzerland helped to rebuild the infrastructure. Cooperation on the national level to prevent natural catastrophes was initiated in 2006. There are agreements between the two countries on air traffic (1954, 1972 and 2004), road and rail transport (1977), export risk guarantees (1966), protection of investments (1998) and double taxation (2002). Iran is one of Switzerlandˈs most important trading partners in the Middle East. A trade agreement was signed in 2005, but has not yet been ratified. In 2010, the volume of trade with Iran was about 741 million Swiss francs; Switzerland exported goods for about 700 million francs, and it has imported goods to 41 million Swiss francs. The main goods exported by Switzerland are pharmaceutical products, machinery and agricultural products./end