BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) – The dispute emerged in May 2012, when then-Argentine President Christina Kirchner signed a law on expropriating 51 percent of YPF stock previously held by Spain’s oil and gas firm Repsol and its subsidiary YPF Gas S.A. In late February 2014, the sides reached a $5-billion compensation agreement for the YPF renationalization.
"Once we overcome the differences that have arisen in connection with the expropriation of YPF, our relations should become extremely intense," Garcia-Margallo stressed.
The minister also expressed regret that the political relations between Buenos Aires and Madrid in recent times had not been maintained at an appropriate level.
"There are 250 Spanish companies in Argentina that daily improve the Argentine well-being," Garcia-Margallo noted, adding that Madrid was the second largest investor in the South American republic.
He also reminded that 400,000 Argentinians were living in Spain and 11,000 others were temporary residing in the country.
The comments were made several days after Argentina held presidential elections and amid hopes that president-elect Mauricio Macri would give fresh impetus to Spanish-Argentine bilateral relations.