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By Trend

More and more Spanish companies are interested in Azerbaijani market, Jose Luis Diez Juarez, Spanish charge d’affaires in Azerbaijan, told Trend in an interview.

"Commercial exchange is still very low, but more and more companies are working with Azerbaijan," Diez said.

He noted that first of all there are two Spanish companies that are not physically present in Azerbaijan, but are working with Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR – they are Enagas, one of the shareholders of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which will supply Azerbaijani gas to Europe, and engineering company Tecnicas Reunidas, working with SOCAR on the Star refinery which is being built in Turkey.

"For now we have five Spanish companies working in Azerbaijan. Most of them are in engineering – design of projects, design of construction, services for the shipyard," Spanish diplomat said.

Diez reminded that a bilateral business forum took place in Baku last April in parallel with the Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, adding that as much as 20 Spanish companies took part in the forum. Two of them decided to open offices in Baku after the forum. ACS, one of the biggest Spanish companies providing industrial services, has already opened a regional office in Baku, while a consulting and audit company is still discussing this issue.

The charge d'affaires noted that some Spanish companies related to construction also showed interest for Azerbaijani market, but since this sector was the most hit by crisis, it is not a perfect time to enter the market now.
"But I hope that when the situation starts to improve we will have some Spanish construction companies here," he said.

Diez also said that Spain is negotiating with the government of Azerbaijan on a memorandum for cooperation in agriculture.
"I hope that if we sign an agreement it will help Spanish companies to have more possibilities in Azerbaijan," he said.

Next year it is planned to hold the next bilateral business forum in Spain and this issue is under discussion, according to the charge d'affaires. However the dates have not been confirmed yet, he said.
Answering the question on the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Spain, Diez noted that it is still very low.
"It changes a lot because sometimes we purchase oil, but not every year. The rest of the trade averages 20 million euros, but if there is a purchase of oil it goes up to about 100 million euros," he said.

The last oil supplies from Azerbaijan to Spain happened two years ago and new oil deliveries are not expected in near future, according to Diez.
"Currently, Spain mainly imports oil from the Gulf," he said.

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