MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a state visit to Spain on March 1-3 to promote bilateral relations, which have developed a peculiar tone since the death of Franco in 1975.
The two countries agreed on many political issues and appeared to be committed to trade, declaring their intentions during bilateral visits and top-level talks. But these talks do not bring a significant improvement to their relations. If Medvedev's visit can bring in changes between the two countries, it will be considered a huge achievement. However, the Spanish should do more to ensure this outcome.
In Madrid this time round, a number of political, economic, trade, legal and tourism agreements were signed. The most important of them is the declaration of strategic partnership signed to confirm the current status of bilateral relations and outline new vectors in multidimensional Russian-Spanish cooperation.
However, declarations are only as good as their implementation.
Apart from everything else, Russia needs Spain as an ally in adjusting the architecture of European security to modern realities.
Medvedev's visit was also an attempt to encourage "old" European countries to support Russia's plans. Spain, which will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union in 2010, can achieve much in this area, even if it only adds to the EU agenda Medvedev's proposal made last year on creating a new system of European security and a new global structure.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have lent their support to Moscow's initiatives, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has not disapproved of them either. However, it would be easier to implement them with Spain's commitment.
Spain expressed their support for the initiatives during Medvedev's visit, but must now confirm this at the pan-European level.
Russian-Spanish trade proves to be a more difficult issue, despite the fact that Spanish goods (in particular wines, footwear, carpets, and furniture) are well loved by many Russians.
But the trouble is that the volume of Russia's trade with Spain is too small compared to its trade with the other EU countries. Bilateral trade has increased fivefold over the past five years, to $9.3 billion in 2009. Spain is the 22nd largest trade partner of Russia, which is one of Spain's top 20 trade partners.
However, Russia's trade with Italy, which does not differ much from trade with Spain in terms of goods, is still several times larger. This begs the question: why is this the case?
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
