Switzerland's partnership with Azerbaijan over energy supplies is of great importance, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told her Azeri counterpart on Wednesday.

At a meeting in Bern, she told Elmar Mammadyarov that economic relations between the two countries could be extended yet further, a foreign ministry statement reported afterwards.

Last year the two sides reached an agreement to make it easier for private enterprises to cooperate in the energy field, and to facilitate private investment in the energy sector. Azerbaijan's gas supplies are one area of interest to Switzerland.

The two ministers also discussed Azerbaijan's position in the wake of Georgia's conflict with Russia in August, the statement added.

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