The Diplomat
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, will travel to Australia between 28 and 30 September to strengthen trade ties and economic and political relations between the two countries, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
On Wednesday 28 September, Maroto will meet in Canberra with the Minister for Finance, Women’s Affairs and the Civil Service, Katy Gallagher, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles.
On the same day, he will attend the inauguration of the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Queanbeyan facility, the first battery facility to be built by Naturgy in Australia to store renewable energy.
On Thursday 29th, he will travel to Sydney, where he will inaugurate the Spain-Australia business meeting organised by ICEX-Invest in Spain, the CEOE and the Chamber of Commerce.
The event will be attended by the Australian Minister of Industry and Science, Ed Husic, and representatives of the main Spanish companies in infrastructure, energy, banking, defence and the hotel sector.
The list of participating companies includes Acciona Energia Internacional, ACS, Airbus, Caixabank, CAF, Elecnor, FCC, Ferrovial Construccion, Iberdrola Renovables Internacional, Indra Sistemas, Naturgy, Navantia, NH Hoteles, Sacyr Industrial, Seat Cupra, Sener, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Talgo, Técnica y Proyectos (Typsa) and Viscofan.
On the 30th Maroto will hold a meeting with Australian investment funds organised by ICEX-Invest in Spain and will then travel to the Navantia facilities.
The Minister will also take part in a meeting with the main Australian tour operators organised by Turespaña to promote Spain as a destination and carry out activities aimed at attracting tourist flows to Spain.
Maroto’s visit to Australia is part of a wider tour that will begin earlier in Bali (Indonesia), where between 22 and 27 September she will attend the G20 Trade and Tourism Ministerial Forums.
On 26 September, Maroto will participate in the forum organised by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) to “emphasise the importance of public and private sector collaboration in the search for new tourism experiences and products,” the ministry said.
On 27 September the minister will visit one of the establishments that the Meliá group owns in the country, where it was established 38 years ago (since 1985) with the opening of its first international hotel in this destination.
