The Diplomat in Spain

Dezcallar addresses those participating./ Photo: FCEI

The Diplomat. 11/07/2018

Water management is the main topic of the sixth edition of the Indian Leaders Program, which started on Monday in Madrid backed by the Spain-India Council Foundation (FCEI in its Spanish acronym).

The five experts selected to take part in the Program (Shri. R.K. Gupta, M. Dinesh Kumar, Pankaj Vir Gupta, Nidhi Srivastava and Juhi Chaudhary) have been participating in it since Monday and will continue to do so until Friday in a plan of visits that includes Madrid, Valencia, Murcia and Almería, and that allows them to get in contact with companies, institutions, personalities, experts and political representatives of Spain.

The Program is, along with the Forum and the FCEI Award, one of the big activities organized by the Council Foundation periodically.

As usual, the Program started with an inaugural meeting between the five participants and the secretary general of the Spain-India Council Foundation, Alonso Dezcallar, who explained to them that one of the objectives of this initiative is to help them establish “contacts with relevant people of their sector in Spain, with the purpose of creating ties that allow carrying out joint actions in the future”.

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Five experts go to Madrid, Valencia, Murcia and Almería to know the Spanish experience 

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The central point of this sixth edition is the management of water, an aspect in which “Spain has a solid international reputation, with great projects of water management”, Dezcallar continued.

One of the participants, the Indian architect Pankaj Vir Gupta, emphasized his interest in knowing in detail some projects made in Spain that have international fame, such as Barcelona’s transformation around its port or the recovery of the Manzanares River and its surroundings in Madrid.

The Program continued at the Ministry for the Econologic Transitioin with a meeting with the director general of Water, Manuel Menéndez Prieto, who explained that “Spain and India have a similar situation as regards water”.

The day was completed with meetings with the vice-chairman of Acciona and president of the Spain-India Council Foundation, Juan Ignacio Entrecanales; with representatives of Indra, with whom they exchanged information on security and cybersecurity in the water sector; and with the director of the Elcano Royal Institute, Charles Powell. Furthermore, the Indian leaders were received yesterday by the president of the Hydrographic Confederation of the Tajo, Juan Carlos de Cea.