NEW DELHI: Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, met External Affairs Minister, Dr Jaishankar today and welcomed the signing of a defence contract between the two nations. As a part of the contract, Airbus Spain will supply 56 C295 aircraft, 40 of which would be Made in India, and agreed to further deepen defence and security cooperation.
India welcomed Spain’s interest in participating in its national defence manufacturing programme through Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. They reiterated their commitment to closely work in countering common challenges related to terrorism, violent extremism and cyber crime.
Bilateral talks were held between the two ministers and focused on enhancing cooperation in the key priority areas of trade and investments, people-to-people relationship, climate cooperation, green energy, science & technology, innovation and defence & security. "During the meeting, the Ministers signed the Joint Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in Cultural and Academic fields,’’ said the MEA.
Spain is India’s seventh largest trade partner in European Union and bilateral trade in 2020=21 stood at $4.7 billion with exports from India to Spain at $3.2 billion and imports at $1.5 billion. Spain is the 15th largest investor in India with cumulative FDI stock of $1.43 billion (January 2000 to September 2019). There are nearly 250 Spanish companies in India, mainly in the food, beverages, chemicals, rubber products, plastic products, electrical material, electrical equipment, machinery and equipment, and motor vehicles space.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Spain and India welcomed the growing bilateral trade and investment linkages and agreed to expand them in new areas of common interest. They that the bilateral trade has resurged beyond pre-Covid levels and there is significant potential to grow even further. Opportunities to grow are in sectors like IT, Pharma and renewable and there are new and unexplored emerging areas like green hydrogen, electric mobility, advanced materials, deep sea exploration where the two countries can collaborate further.
On Ukraine, the two Ministers expressed their concern on the ongoing humanitarian crisis and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. Regarding Afghanistan, both sides highlighted the need for Afghanistan to have unhindered access to humanitarian assistance and that Afghan territory is not used by terror outfits for destabilising the region.