Spain intends to strengthen ties with Azerbaijan
By Kamila Aliyeva
Spain is interested in further developing its relations with Azerbaijan.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry announced about this it its message on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic bilateral relations between the countries.
“The Spanish Government aims at further deepening of ties with Azerbaijan, both at the bilateral level and within international institutions, in particular in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy,” the statement reads.
The relations between Azerbaijan and Spain have been developing greatly over the 25-year-period, during which high-level contacts between the governments were taking place on the regular basis, and the exchange of experience and collaborative work in such areas as university education, engineering, agriculture, maritime transport and other spheres was fulfilled.
Steps have been taken to increase the people-to-people contacts, expand legal-treaty base to open up new prospects for the promotion of cooperation between the two countries, according to the ministry.
Spain recognized Azerbaijan's independence in December 1991. Diplomatic relations were established in February 1992.
Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee reported that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Spain amounted to 37.85 million manats in the first quarter of 2016, while 26.13 million manats accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to this country.
The trade turnover changes from year to year as the Spanish side doesn’t purchase oil, the main export product of Azerbaijan, regularly. The last oil supplies from Azerbaijan to Spain took place over two years ago.
Currently, five Spanish companies operate in Azerbaijan. Most of them are engaged in engineering sphere – the design of projects, the design of construction and the services for the shipyard.
The tourist flow from Azerbaijan to Spain has been increasing constantly in recent years to about 7,000- 10,000 tourists per year.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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