Today, Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie received the President of the Basque Government, Iñigo Urkullu Rentería, who was joined by the Spanish Ambassador to Argentina, Javier Sandomingo Núñez, the Secretary General for Foreign Policy, María Angeles Elorza Zubiría, the Director of Foreign Affairs, Leyre Madariaga Gangoiti, and the Basque Delegate for Argentina and Mercosur, Sara Pagola Aizpiri.
The meeting was held during the visit of the Lehendakari (President of the Basque Autonomous Community) on the occasion of the celebration of Basque National Week, which will take place in Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. This is the first visit by Urkullu to Argentina and the first visit in six years by a Lehendakari.
Dialogue was intensive and constructive, highlighting the strategic partnership and historic bonds between Argentina and Spain. The Basque Country's ties with Argentina were underscored. It is estimated that 10% of Argentina's population are descended from Basques. In Argentina, 84 Basque clubs exist out of a total of 191 around the world.
During the meeting, officials considered the openness, foreign action and overseas presence policies of Argentina and the Basque Autonomous Community, identifying opportunities to strengthen relations in shared interest areas such as trade, productive investment, tourism and cooperation for development and culture.
Argentine-Basque ongoing experiences related to the fields of universities, professional training and cooperativism were valued positively.
The Argentine Foreign Minister welcomed Urkullu's visit, praised the performance of more than 30 Basque companies established in Argentina and listed sectors with great potential for development: science and applied technology, renewable energy, the food industry, health, tourism and associativism in agriculture.
Finally, they reviewed the status of MERCOSUR-EU negotiations, highlighting the need to successfully conclude a strategic bi-regional and mutually beneficial agreement.
Press Release No. 436/18
