Iran and Switzerland on Monday signed a major gas agreement for the export of Iranian gas to a Swiss company, in a rare energy deal between Tehran and the West amid the continued nuclear crisis.
"Today we witnessed the signing of a gas contract between the two countries," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced at a joint news conference with his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Financial details weren't disclosed but the contract between Iran's state gas firm and Switzerland's Elektrizitaets-Gesellschaft Laufenburg AG (ELG.EB) reportedly envisages Iran supplying 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year from 2011.
Calmy-Rey said the deal was in full compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions imposed against Iran for its failure to suspend uranium enrichment, a potential nuclear weapons making process.