Kazakhstan-Spain bilateral cooperation discussed in Astana

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilenko had a meeting with Luis Francisco Martinez, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to Kazakhstan. The two sides examined the current state and future prospects for strengthening bilateral cooperation in political, trade, economic, investment, and cultural-humanitarian spheres, as well as the schedule of upcoming visits, the press service of the Kazakh MFA reported Sep 26.

Roman Vassilenko spoke on importance of effective implementation of the bilateral agreements, including those reached during the talks between the Kazakh, Spanish foreign ministers at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly ongoing in New York.

The parties stressed the importance of promoting active cooperation in areas such as energy, civil aviation, tourism, education, trade and investment.

The sides pointed out successful operation of some Spanish companies - Inditex, Maxam, Glovo and Talgo - in Kazakhstan and expressed high expectations from the upcoming implementation of the project on construction of an integrated gas chemical complex for the production of polyethylene in Atyrau region, carried out jointly by the Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas and China’s Sinopec as per the order of JSC NC KazMunayGas.

Spain is a key economic partner of Kazakhstan in the EU. According to Kazakh statistics, bilateral trade turnover in 2023 amounted to 2 billion US dollars (with exports at USD 1.5 billion and imports at USD 500 million). From January to July 2024, trade turnover reached USD 1.1 billion (exports totaling USD 791.2 million and imports USD 347.8 million). Since 2005, Spanish investments in Kazakhstan have reached 360 million US dollars, and there are currently 67 legal entities with Spanish capital registered in Kazakhstan.