Baku, 15 February 2022 (TDI): On 11 February, Azerbaijan and Spain celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of relations between them. According to the Spanish Foreign Ministry, both forged sound political relations; and increased their cultural and economic ties.
The Ministry also mentioned that their economic ties in the infrastructure and energy got stronger. Spain expressed their desire to give a renewed and decisive boost to its relations.
Moreover, that boost would be through the European Union, and within the framework of the Eastern Partnership. The Spanish Government then expressed their wishes for peace, well-being, and prosperity for Azerbaijan.
On the occasion of the Anniversary, Azerbaijan also congratulated Spain. The Ministry expressed their wishes towards the Spanish citizens and Government, and to strengthen their strategic ties.
AZERBAIJAN-SPAIN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan remarked that Spain recognized their independence on the 31st of December 1991. Both countries established diplomatic relations on the 11th of February 1992.
Azerbaijan opened its Embassy in Madrid on the 11th of March 2005. On the other side, Spain opened a representative office of the Embassy in Baku in Ankara on the 5th of May 2014.
Currently, the head of the Spanish delegation is Ignacio Sanchez Taboada. The Spanish Ambassador to the Turkish Republic has also been accredited in Azerbaijan. Furthermore, both countries signed 10 documents to strengthen their bilateral cooperation.
Among the mutual documents, there is the Memorandum of Understanding on Sports Cooperation between the Ministry of Youth and Health of Azerbaijan and the Supreme Council of Spain (2010).
Then they have the Agreement between Azerbaijan and Spain on the abolition of the short-term visa regime for citizens with diplomatic passports (2011). Also the agreement on the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Spain in the fields of culture, education, and science (2012).
Regarding the discrimination against women; they have the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against Women and the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against Women and its Protocol.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
Azerbaijan exports to Spain several products like crude oil, diesel fuel, kerosene fuel, turbojet engines. Other products include semiconductor carriers, ash, and other residues containing mainly aluminum compounds, rawhides, and nuts.
On the other side, Spain also exported to Azerbaijan a wide variety of products. Those products are crude soybean oil and its fractions, light vehicles, enameled ceramic tiles for floors and walls.
The Embassy then provides trade data with Spain between 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2016, the trade between them amounted to 178.91 million, $50.67 million in imports. Spain accounted for 1.01% of the foreign trade cycle of Azerbaijan.
In 2017, the total trade period with the Kingdom of Spain in the country was 165.96 million. Moreover, according to the State Committee of Azerbaijan, the equivalent of $22.14 million (U.S.). The equivalent of $143.82 million (U.S.). It was 121.68 million dollars.
In January-June 2017, the Kingdom of Spain accounted for 1.91 percent of the foreign trade cycle. In 2018, the Kingdom of Spain in the Republic of Azerbaijan reached a total of 479.3 million. $82.9 million (U.S.) in imports. $396.3 million
