The Diplomat
The Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, will pay between today and tomorrow his first state visit to Spain since 2013, when he acceded to the throne following the abdication of his father, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Al Thani and his wife, Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim al Thani, arrived in Madrid yesterday, accompanied by a large delegation including the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Industry and Trade and the Minister of State for Energy Affairs.
The Emir and his wife are staying at El Pardo Palace, the usual residence for heads of state visiting Spain on state visits. He was visited there yesterday by Don Felipe, with whom he held an initial conversation.
This morning the official reception will be held by the King and Queen, who will host a gala dinner in honour of Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his wife at the Royal Palace.
Apart from his meeting with King Philip VI, Al Thani will meet with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and will pay a visit to the Senate, where the Presidents of the Congress and the Senate, Meritxell Batet and Ander Gil, will present him with the respective Medals of the two Chambers.
In addition, Sheikh Al Thani will receive the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, following the approval of the corresponding Royal Decree during the meeting of the Council of Ministers last Tuesday, and the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, will present him with the Golden Key of the City of Madrid during his visit to the City Hall.
“With this visit at the highest level the Kingdom of Spain and the State of Qatar raise the bilateral relationship to a strategic level, with the signing of Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) in various areas of collaboration, such as economic, investment, educational, judicial, health and scientific, among others,” said Foreign Affairs.
Spain and Qatar, which established diplomatic relations on December 22, 1972 (although diplomatic affairs were conducted for many years from the Spanish Embassies in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates), maintain very fluid relations at the political, economic, commercial and cultural levels. The King and Queen of Spain officially visited Qatar for the first time in November 1980, and repeated in October 2003 and April 2006.
The opening of the Spanish Embassy in Doha took place at the end of 2003, followed by the opening of the Qatari Embassy in Madrid in 2004, a twofold process that launched a new stage in bilateral relations. The then Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, visited Spain on October 6, 2004 and again from April 25 to 27, 2011. The current Emir acceded to power on June 26, 2013, following the abdication of his father.
In February 2021, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, visited Qatar as part of a Middle East tour to attract the interest of sovereign wealth funds in the region to the technological, industrial and green economy projects envisaged by the Government’s Recovery Plan. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, visited Doha on September 14, 2021.
