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SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain – Mexico and the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia signed on Tuesday a cooperation agreement in the field of tourism, which will strengthen bilateral trade and cultural ties.

The accord, signed by Mexico’s Tourism minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu Salinas, and the President of the regional Galician Government, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, is aimed at increasing the number of Mexican tourists in Galicia and promoting the image of Mexico in Spain and of Galicia in Mexico.

Ruiz Massieu stressed the “brotherly and strategic” relationship between her country and Spain and said “the level of dialogue is increasingly deep” in the tourism sector.

Nuñez Feijoo described the agreement as “a great opportunity” from an institutional and economic viewpoint to increase cooperation in what he called a “strategic” and non contaminating “white industry.”

With Tuesday’s signing, Galicia expects to attract more Mexican tourists to the pilgrimage to the shrine in Santiago de Compostela’s cathedral where the remains of St. James the Apostle lie.

In a centuries-old tradition, tens of thousands of pilgrims each year visit the saint’s tomb after traveling, usually on foot, for hundreds of kilometers on the “Camino de Santiago” (The way of St. James) to the city.

The agreement also includes educational programs for Mexican tourism students in Galicia.

The possibilities offered by rural tourism, handicrafts, wine-tasting, gastronomy and spas were also discussed by the Spanish and Mexican authorities.

The tourism accord follows a commercial alliance in the naval sector for the construction in Galicia of ships for the Mexican oil company Pemex, and efforts to improve relations in the fields of food and agriculture.

“Ties between Mexico and Galicia are very solid,” said Ruiz Massieu, because “in Mexico there is a community of Galician origin who has contributed to the development of Mexico, but also each day to a cultural, commercial and permanent investment exchange” between the two sides.

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