GENEVA - Switzerland and Iran signed their first ever bilateral trade deal on Tuesday, the Swiss economics ministry said.
The Swiss economics minister Joseph Deiss and Iran's commerce minister Mohamed Shariatmadari concluded the agreement on closer trade ties at a meeting in the Swiss capital Bern, the ministry said in a statement.
The agreement smoothes commerce between the two nations by giving them a legal footing that will encourage investors, and clears up issues relating to the protection of intellectual property, Deiss's spokesman Christophe Hans said.
The ministers also discussed Iran's repeated attempts to get into the World Trade Organisation during their meeting.
Teheran's bid to become an observer -- a first step to joining the 148-member organisation -- has been consistently opposed by the United States.
"Switzerland supports the request, but it does expect Iran to comply with its international obligations, such as nuclear non-proliferation, human rights and international law," Hans told AFP.
Iran is Switzerland's fourth largest export market in the Middle East, accounting for 584 million Swiss francs (377 million euros) in 2004, mainly for pharmaceutical products and chemicals.
Imports from Iran have doubled in a decade to reach 184 million Swiss francs last year, mainly fuel and textiles.
05/24/2005 15:35 GMT