The Diplomat
The Government will publicly present today the progress of the project for the new headquarters of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at the Congress and Exhibition Palace in Madrid, in the framework of the Executive’s mobilizations to counteract Saudi Arabia’s attempts to take the organization’s headquarters to Riyadh.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, together with the Secretary General of the UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili, and the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, will visit today, in the presence of the media, the site of the Congress Palace that will host the new headquarters of the organization -established in Madrid in 1975-, located in the Paseo de la Castellana of the capital and which will have more than 8,000 square meters of floor space.
The event is part of the mobilizations of the Spanish government to try to stop Saudi Arabia from going ahead with its intention to postulate Riyadh as the headquarters of the UNWTO. Saudi Arabia has already made it known to the Spanish authorities that its wish is that the next General Assembly of the UNWTO, to be held from November 30 to December 3 in Marrakech (Morocco), vote on the change of venue, something that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez has considered an unfriendly gesture and has made it known to the Saudi Embassy.
However, although the intentions of the Arab country are well known, and it would already be groping for possible support to achieve its goal, so far its candidacy has not been formalized. If it were to do so, it would be an important step that would force Spain to work even harder to avoid losing the only headquarters of a United Nations organization in our country.
The World Tourism Organization, under the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, currently has 159 States, of the 193 that make up the UN, and for a change of headquarters to take place it would have to be approved with two-thirds support, i.e. Saudi Arabia would need to win the will of 106 countries. Curiously, among the states that are not members are some that are among the world’s main emitters of tourists, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries, as well as Ireland and Belgium.
Spain’s fear is that Saudi Arabia’s economic potential will convince a sufficient number of countries, especially among the most disadvantaged, to vote in favor of the change. In addition, Riyadh became the headquarters of the UNWTO Regional Office for the Middle East last May, in an event attended by a number of tourism ministers from the region and other parts of the globe. The UNWTO Secretariat General has not commented on this matter and has recalled that any decision on the possible change of venue is the exclusive responsibility of the General Assembly.
The Government mobilizes
For this reason, the Executive has mobilized to make member countries understand that it is much more convenient for the organization to remain in Madrid, the capital of a country with great experience in tourism and which has been the headquarters of the organization since its creation. Spain is confident that it can count on the support of European and Ibero-American countries, among others, although it knows that, if the matter is put to a vote, it will have to make every effort. According to diplomatic sources informed to The Diplomat, the Foreign Office has sent a letter to the Embassies so that they mobilize in this sense.
Another trump card that the Spanish authorities are going to use to the full, and of which today’s act is a clear exponent, is to accelerate to the maximum the provision of the UNWTO of the Congress and Exhibition Palace on Paseo de la Castellana, opposite the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, something that was talked about for years and already promised in 2018 by the then Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, but that has not been able to become a reality due to various circumstances, including changes of government or the pandemic, in addition to some bureaucratic hurdles.
The UNWTO, currently located in a building on Poeta Joan Maragall street (formerly Capitán Haya), has long needed more space, and the Congress Palace, closed since 2012 to remedy some deficiencies in terms of self-protection and security, would be a venue with a more representative character. The Palace also has a nucleus of offices annexed to the building that would be expanded and remodeled.
In January 2019, the Government of Pedro Sánchez resumed the willingness to provide the Palace to the UNWTO and both the Community of Madrid and the City Council of the capital support the move, which the Executive now wants to accelerate. In February 2020, the Official State Gazette published the feasibility study for the refurbishment of the building, which the Government will cede to the UNWTO for a period of 40 years. Last July 30, José Manuel Albares had a conversation with Zurab Pololikashvili to inform him that the works would start “shortly” and to invite him to visit the future headquarters.
