IRAN (IP)- Iranian Parliament Speaker and Swiss National Council President Andreas Aebi met here in Tehran on Monday.

Iran PressIran News: Following the meeting, the Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Swiss national council President said in a press conference that they discussed deepening economic cooperation in agriculture, tourism, and meeting the challenge of food security.

"There is an old and deep connection between Iran and Switzerland in political, social, cultural, and economic terms and we hope the meeting will be effective in deepening relations between the two countries," Ghalibaf noted.

"In this meeting, Iran's nuclear agreement, agricultural affairs, water, animal husbandry, etc. were discussed and cooperation in these areas will continue," added the speaker.

Referring to the role of Switzerland regarding Afghan refugees in Iran, the speaker of the Iranian parliament said: "In the meeting, the special condition of the Afghan people in their country and human rights, health and medical issues were discussed."

For his part, Swiss National Council President Andreas Aebi also said: "The food security is an important issue, so since there is a lot of water in Switzerland and a lot of land in Iran, we need cooperation in this area." Andreas Aebi also stressed the need for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

 

Continuous Tehran-Bern relations

Switzerland managed to find a partial solution to the problem. Despite years of sanctions, Switzerland has managed to maintain good trade relations with Iran. Bern has also been the representative of US interests in Iran for four decades and maintained trade relations with Iran during the US sanctions.

With the approval by the Iranian parliament of a transport agreement between the two countries, in 2018, goods and passenger transport also received a boost.

The agreement, signed on a visit to Bern in 2018 by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, envisages the complete liberalization of the transport of goods and the removal of administrative barriers. A bilateral trade agreement has been in force since 2017.

In February 2020, a payment mechanism for the delivery of humanitarian goods to Iran came into force. Under the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), Swiss firms in the food, pharmaceutical, and medical sectors have a secure payment channel with a Swiss bank to export to Iran.

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