Silvia Moreno / Agencies Seville

Seville

Updated Sunday, February 18, 2024-7:31 p.m.

  • Munich Security Conference China considers it a historic mistake to try to exclude it "in the name of risk reduction"

China will lift the embargo on

beef

of Spanish origin, as announced this Sunday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, after the meeting he held in Córdoba with his Chinese counterpart,

Wang Yi

.

Since 2000, China has maintained a ban on the European Union (EU) from exporting beef products, due to cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or "

mad cow disease

" that emerged in several European countries in the mid-2000s. 90s. This ban was lifted for two EU member states: Romania and Hungary.

Now, Spain, which since 2016 has had the "negligible" risk status with respect to BSE from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), joins the countries for which China has lifted the veto on its beef, Therefore, Spanish products "will be able to

freely access

" this Asian market, as highlighted by Minister Albares.

The impact of lifting this embargo on Spanish beef will be "tremendously positive" due to the size of the Chinese market, stressed the minister, who recalled that the Spanish Government had been requesting an end to this veto for quite some time. "I am sure that, with the

quality of our meat products

, success will be guaranteed, and the Ministry of Agriculture will be able to give a good account of it," he added.

The Foreign Ministers of Spain and China, José Manuel Albares and Wang Yi, met this Sunday at the Alcázar of Córdoba, a monument with six centuries of history. After a first working meeting, Albares explained that he has raised Spain's desire to establish "more balanced"

trade exchanges

between both countries.

Cosmetics and public purchases

For his part, Chinese Minister Yi has assured that, in addition to beef, the Chinese market will also open for sectors such as cosmetics or public procurement.


Meanwhile, Minister Albares has insisted on the possibility of Spain and China joining their "forces" in joint projects in matters such as

renewable energy , sustainable transport and

water

and

waste

management

.

Among other issues, the exemption of visas

for Spaniards who make trips of up to 15 days, the opening of a second Cervantes Institute and the gift of a new

pair of pandas

have also been agreed

.

For Albares, all these advances demonstrate the "

excellent state

of

bilateral relations

and friendship between the two peoples" which must be deepened with the maintenance of high-level contacts, including the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, and the activation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the joint economic commission or the joint scientific commission".

The Chinese minister arrived in Córdoba after participating in the

Munich Security Conference

, which Albares also attended. This Monday, the President of the Government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, will receive him at the Moncloa Palace and, in the afternoon, the King will do so at the Moncloa Palace.