Calmy-Rey heads to Iran

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey is travelling to Iran for talks with her counterpart Manoucher Mottaki.

The meeting will take place on Monday in Tehran, said the foreign ministry in a statement. Human rights will be on the agenda as well as a gas supply agreement.

Calmy-Rey will bring up the ongoing human rights dialogue between the two countries.

“[She] will also express her concern about the human rights situation in Iran and the unacceptable rhetoric that the Iranian leadership has used against Israel,” said the statement.

The ministers will attend the signing of a gas supply agreement between the Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft Laufenburg AG (EGL) and the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC).

It is eventually planned for natural gas from Iran and Azerbaijan to feed into a pipeline running from Greece to Italy, as a fourth supply corridor to western Europe.

The communiqué said Switzerland had an interest in diversifying its gas supply and supporting Swiss companies in the energy sector.

The agreement is compliant with the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Iran, added the ministry.