Albares to meet in Algeria with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Hydrocarbons and inaugurate the Cervantes Institute in Oran

Eduardo González The official trip of Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares to Algeria, which begins this Thursday, March 26, will include working meetings with his counterpart, Ahmed Attaf, and with the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, and the official inauguration of the Cervantes Institute in Oran. The Foreign Minister will make his first trip to Algeria this Thursday and Friday since the outbreak and subsequent resolution of the diplomatic crisis between the two countries, which stemmed from Spain's decision to recognize Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara. The visit was announced this Tuesday by Albares himself at the Moncloa Palace complex during the press conference following the Council of Ministers meeting. According to a press release from the Ministry, Albares will meet on Thursday with Mohamed Arkab “with the aim of conducting a comprehensive review of the main issues in the relationship between the two countries and giving renewed impetus to the bilateral agenda, as well as addressing the international situation.” “Algeria is a neighboring country, a strategic partner, a friend of Spain with whom we share strong common interests” on issues such as “the future and stability in the Mediterranean,” the minister stated at the aforementioned press conference. Separately, the first day of the trip, which will take place in Algiers, includes a meeting with the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Mines, Mohamed Arkab. In 2025, Algeria was, for the third consecutive year, Spain's leading supplier of natural gas, the Ministry confirmed. “In the current context, it is a first-rate and reliable gas supplier,” Albares declared. In the Algerian capital, the minister will also meet with Spanish companies established in the country to learn firsthand about their experience and activities. Trade relations have experienced strong growth in the last two years. In 2025, Spain exported €2.133 billion worth of goods to Algeria, representing a 270 percent increase compared to 2024. “Last year, 2025, we tripled exports compared to the previous year, which was already a year of significant growth,” which “represents the best result for our exports since 2019,” Albares stated. In addition to the political and economic-business dimensions, the trip will have “an important human and cultural component,” according to the press release. On March 27, the second day of the official visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will preside over the official opening of the Cervantes Institute in Oran. “The close human and historical ties reflect the growing interest in the Spanish language and culture,” the Ministry indicated. It is estimated that around 40,000 Algerian students are currently studying Spanish in the country's formal education system (primary and secondary school), and approximately 3,500 are studying it at university. The minister plans to conclude the visit with a ceremony commemorating the historical and democratic remembrance of the Republican exiles at the monument dedicated to the British merchant ship Standbrook in Oran. First visit since the 2022 crisis In April 2022, the decision by Pedro Sánchez's government to support Morocco's proposed autonomy plan for Western Sahara allowed it to overcome a very serious diplomatic crisis with Rabat, but at the cost of opening another diplomatic crisis, equally or even more serious, with Algeria. That conflict with Algeria—Spain's main gas supplier, at a particularly delicate time due to the energy crisis stemming from Russia's war in Ukraine—resulted, on the part of Abdelmajid Tebboune's government, in the recall of the previous ambassador to Spain for consultations in March 2022 and the suspension of the bilateral Treaty of Friendship and trade relations. The thaw in bilateral relations began in 2023, following Sánchez's address to the UN General Assembly in which he advocated for a solution to the Western Sahara conflict "within the framework of the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions," without mentioning Morocco's autonomy proposal, and thanks to Spain's support for a Palestinian state. Under these circumstances, Spain granted its approval to the new Algerian ambassador, Abdelfetá Daghmun, in November of that year. In February 2025, Albares held his first bilateral meeting with his Algerian counterpart, Ahmed Attaf, in Johannesburg (on the sidelines of the G20 Summit) since the outbreak of the crisis. The ministers met again in late September 2025 in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's High-Level Week, and on February 7 at the ministerial headquarters in the Palacio de Viana, Madrid. “We have strongly consolidated political relations of friendship. We are friends, partners, and neighbors. Algeria is our primary gas supplier, a reliable and constant strategic partner,” Albares wrote that day on social media.

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