The Diplomat Yesterday, Defense Minister Margarita Robles held a telephone conversation with the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, with whom she addressed the scheme, shared by both countries, of assigning priority to Ukraine in the supplies of certain defense equipment and systems, especially in the field of Air Defense. According to Defense, the two governments have recently begun to develop this scheme, the result of the respective bilateral Security and Defense agreements, and in which the respective Spanish and North American defense industries and technology companies participate. The two ministers also agreed that the responsibility of supporting Ukraine - given the situation on the ground and the continuous attacks on the civilian population - represents an incentive for the search for synergies and greater cooperation between the Spanish and European industry with the North American industry. which “must be reflected with a view to the next NATO Summit in Washington,” as highlighted by the Ministry in its press release. Robles has repeatedly defended the role of the Spanish defense industry in NATO schemes. Last February, the minister warned her Alliance counterparts of the need to encourage direct supplies from the Spanish and European Defense industry to Ukraine. Exactly a year ago, Margarita Robles decided not to participate in a NATO meeting with representatives of the European and North American Defense industry to work on Euro-Atlantic arms production plans after verifying that the Atlantic Alliance had not included Spanish companies among the 25 invited firms. That same day, the minister held a meeting with the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, to convey her discomfort. The conversation between Robles and Austin took place one day after the minister attended a new ministerial meeting in Brussels of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, convened by Lloyd Austin, in which, as usual, the participants about the situation on the ground and the most urgent needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their longer-term requirements were presented. In her intervention, Robles was satisfied with the training work carried out by the Spanish Armed Forces at the request of the Ukrainian authorities. "Thanks to the support of the transportation capacity of the Air and Space Army, the geographical distance between our two countries does not represent any obstacle to carrying out training, which will exceed the total number of 6,000 troops by the end of the year," he said. the minister. Robles also participated on Thursday in Brussels in the session of the NATO-Ukraine Council, with the allied defense ministers – including the Swedish minister Pal Jonson, who participated for the first time in this format as a full member after his country's accession – , which addressed the need to guarantee the coherence of the initiatives carried out within the Alliance with those that are already underway, such as those of the Contact Group itself, the International Donor Coordination Center or the European Union.
