Wikileaks Memos: ‘Iran, Pakistan eyed Swiss technology’

WikiLeaks reveal Iran, Pakistan and North Korea wanted to buy material for possible military use from Swiss companies.

ZURICH: Iran, Pakistan and North Korea wanted to buy materials for possible military use from Swiss companies, French-language newspaper Le Temps reported on Saturday, citing US diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks that criticised Swiss officials for being less than transparent.

Iran was keen on magnetic digital compasses, while Syria was interested in a high-speed camera, North Korea in precision machinery and Pakistan in parts for its missiles.

The cables contain assessments by US diplomats in the Swiss capital of Berne on how Swiss authorities, including the State Secretariat for Economics (Seco), were responding to interest in so-called dual-use technologies, which can be used in nuclear pogrammes but also have other applications.

Antje Baertschi, a spokes woman for the Seco, declined to comment on the cables. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2011.