The Diplomat
Bilateral and multilateral cooperation against COVID-19 and the visit to the works of the Spanish pavilion at the Dubai Expo were the protagonists yesterday of the second and last day of the working visit made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, to the United Arab Emirates, who also discussed the participation of the sovereign wealth funds of this country in the Government’s Recovery Plan.
The highlight of yesterday (which is part of a tour of the Middle East that also includes Saudi Arabia, where she arrived yesterday, and Qatar) was the meeting with the Prime Minister and Emir of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, with whom she discussed the importance of international cooperation and coordination to curb the impact of the pandemic, according to the Emirati government.
González Laya was also received on this second day by the Minister of State for Cooperation and Director General of the Dubai World Expo 2020, Reem Al Hashimy, with whom she visited the works of the Spanish pavilion at the Dubai World Expo 2020, whose opening was postponed until October 2021 because of COVID-19 and which will conclude on March 31, 2022. Speaking to the media from the site of the visit, the minister stressed that the universal exposition could be “a great opportunity” for “all the nations represented at Expo 2020” to “return to life, return to mobility and return to economic activity.” “Obviously, in this post-COVID return, Spain will be very present”, González Laya continued.
In addition, González Laya inaugurated the exhibition Women have the formula on women’s contribution to science, which took place at the ME Dubai Hotel and where she greeted the Association of Spanish Teachers and the Association of Spanish Scientists and Researchers in the United Arab Emirates, and finally visited the international renewable energy agency (IRENA), which Spain helped to create in 2009.
Precisely, sustainable energies and digitalization were the two sectors that were the focus, the day before, of the meeting between the minister and the CEO of the Emirati sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Khaldoun Mubarak, during which González Laya explained the opportunities offered by the Spanish Recovery Plan to expand the Emirati investment presence “in line with the objectives of economic transformation”, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mubadala Investment Company is an Emirati government holding company whose main purpose is long-term investment in the energy industry. The Emirati investment is the region’s largest in Spain with 6,000 million euros.
The minister also met with representatives of the more than 200 Spanish companies established in the country. The most important point of González Laya’s tour of the Middle East is precisely related to economic diplomacy and overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. More specifically, according to diplomatic sources, the Minister intends to attract the interest of the region’s sovereign wealth funds in order to leverage investments for the technological, industrial or green economy projects envisaged by the Recovery Plan launched by the Government on the basis of the European Recovery Fund.
At the end of her trip to Dubai, Arancha González Laya travelled yesterday afternoon to Riyadh, where she visited the Visitors’ Center of the Saudi capital’s Metro works, in whose works the Spanish company FCC is taking part. Later, she was interviewed by the Al Arabiya television channel and held a meeting with prominent Saudi women at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Riyadh. The minister will continue her working visit to Saudi Arabia today.
