MADRID – Spain and Bolivia signed Tuesday in Madrid a series of accords aimed at promoting bilateral cooperation and contributing to the development of the Andean nation.

The agreements were inked by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

During a joint press conference, Zapatero referred to two “high value” projects about to be approved that will benefit Bolivia.

One is the “Water Fund,” promoted by Spain at Ibero-American summits, which will get water to “millions of people in Ibero-America and tens of thousands in Bolivia.”

“This is a structural investment benefiting the health and well-being of many Bolivians,” Zapatero said.

Spain also committed itself to supporting a project in Bolivia providing professional training for young people, the prime minister said.

Also agreed upon was the third and last debt-exchange program, which calls for Madrid to forgive roughly $85.7 million in Bolivian debt.

Zapatero and Morales also signed a pact allowing Bolivians living in Spain to vote in municipal elections.

Bolivia has a large community of emigrants in Spain, of whom some 98,000 have legal status, while an estimated 250,000 are undocumented, a figure that makes this the foreign community with the biggest percentage of illegal aliens.

Morales told reporters that Spanish oil company Repsol YPF has decided to “accelerate” its investments for the exploitation of Bolivia’s estimated 48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The Bolivian president said that Monday he met with Repsol CEO Antonio Brufau, during which they talked mainly about the investment.

“Now that certain regulations have been resolved by Congress, the president of Repsol has decided to accelerate investment,” Morales said, adding that Brufau “will soon visit Bolivia” to carry out the new accords.

These accords, he said, will include one on construction of plants to separate liquid products from natural gas.

As he did on Monday, Morales said that Bolivia “needs partners” to invest in the country, and that Spain will always be “welcome” for its experience and capability. EFE