The Diplomat
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, received yesterday in Madrid the deputy deputy secretary general of NATO, Mircea Geoana, with whom she discussed the preparations for the next Washington Summit and the need to agree on an Alliance strategy for the Southern Neighborhood.
During the meeting, which took place at the Ministry’s headquarters, Robles and Geoana addressed the development of the Defense industry, an area in which Spain has a “consolidated” position, and the minister expressed her hope that the initiatives of the The EU and NATO coordinate and articulate jointly in this matter in order to strengthen it and contribute to the increase in quality employment and technological transformation.
During the last NATO ministerial meeting, held in mid-February in Brussels, Robles highlighted the need to encourage direct supplies from the Spanish Defense industry to Ukraine. In June last year, the minister harshly criticized the exclusion of Spanish companies from the Alliance’s defense industrial plan, approved at the Vilnius Summit.
Robles and Geoana also spoke about the war in Ukraine, as it enters its third year, and the Defense Minister recalled “the total support” of Spain to Ukraine both in terms of material, training, humanitarian aid, political and diplomatic support. .
In addition, the Minister of Defense took advantage of the meeting with Geoana to recall the interest of Spain, and other allies, in NATO having a Southern Neighborhood policy. In this sense, she recalled that next March the report of the Group of Independent Experts on the South will be presented to the North Atlantic Council.
The Minister defended that NATO’s relationship with the partners of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative be subject to unique treatment and warned of the need to agree on a strategy that the heads of State and Government would endorse at the Summit. Washington, which will be held between July 9 and 11, which will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance.
