Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, received yesterday in Madrid his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, with whom he discussed the forthcoming opening of a diplomatic antenna of Spain in Yerevan.
“This year we are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of our diplomatic relations,” Albares recalled during an appearance without questions at the ministerial headquarters of the Viana Palace. “Our meeting, and the upcoming opening of a diplomatic antenna in Yerevan, underscore Spain’s special interest in closer bilateral relations with Armenia, in addition to our willingness to increase Spanish presence in the South Caucasus region,” he said.
Spain’s diplomatic antenna in Yerevan will become operational in August and will be headed by Cristina Conesa Sancho, appointed by Albares last April. Armenia has an Embassy in Madrid, but Spain’s interests in this country are handled from the Embassy in Moscow, along with an honorary Consulate in Yerevan. Armenia and Spain established diplomatic relations in January 1992. The current Armenian ambassador to Spain is Sos Avetisvan, who has held the post since December 2021.
“Our economic and trade ties have great potential,” the minister continued. “They literally reach to the sky, as the first Armenian satellite was launched this past May thanks to a joint project between an Armenian and a Spanish company, and there are also opportunities for cooperation for mutual benefit in sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, transportation and renewable energy,” he added.
“The promotion of the Spanish language in Armenia is another pillar of our bilateral relations,” and, in this regard, “the Hispanic Center of Yerevan has already initiated the process to become an accredited center of the Instituto Cervantes,” Albares announced. The minister also assured that both countries will explore other opportunities for cooperation in tourism. “Minister Mirzoyan and I agreed that it would be good to increase tourist flows, as well as to study investment possibilities in the tourism sectors of both countries,” he stated. Albares also reported that at the working lunch they had addressed “the complex regional and international situation, where more than ever we all have to work for peace and stability.”
Ararat Mirzoyan
For his part Ararat Mirzoyan expressed his satisfaction for “visiting Madrid on the anniversary of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Spain”, which “is undoubtedly a good opportunity to reassess the potential of relations between our two countries and to give a new impetus to a mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation”. Yesterday’s was the first bilateral visit of an Armenian foreign minister to Spain.
“I would also like to welcome the decision of the Spanish government to establish a resident diplomatic representation in Armenia,” he continued. “I am hopeful that in the near future the representation will also provide consular services, which will greatly contribute to the growth of tourism between the two countries,” he continued.
The head of Armenian diplomacy also highlighted the cooperation between the two countries in such sectors as high technologies and information technologies, renewable energy, tourism and education, stating that “the launch of the first Armenian satellite into space is a significant example of the Armenian-Spanish cooperation, as it is the first, and surely not the last, excellent result of the cooperation between the Armenian company Geocosmos and the Spanish company Satlantis.”
Mirzoyan also explained that he had briefed his Spanish colleague on “the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Armenian side’s view on the process of establishing stability and security in the region.” “I have reaffirmed Armenia’s position in favor of continuing negotiations with Azerbaijan for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the international mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship,” he assured.
