<h6><strong>Luis Ayllón</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will be accompanied by his wife, Begoña Gómez, on the trip he will make next week to India, according to information obtained by <em>The Diplomat</em> from government sources.</strong></h4> <a href="https://thediplomatinspain.com/en/2024/10/08/sanchez-will-travel-to-india-for-the-first-time-at-the-end-of-october/96683/">As this website reported,</a> Sánchez will make his first official visit to India on the 28th and 29th of this month of October, where <strong>he will be received by the Prime Minister of that country, Narendra Modi, and will participate in several business meetings and in the Spain-India Council Forum</strong>. On Begoña Gómez's agenda is a visit to Bombay on the 29th, to<strong> the Reliance Foundation, chaired by Nita Ambani, considered one of the most powerful women in India</strong>. Nita Ambani is married to Mukesh Ambani, who is said to be Asia's richest man, with an empire that has interests in oil, gas, fashion, telecommunications and retail. Mukesh Ambani's personal fortune is estimated at around 115 billion dollars and his wife, in addition to being at the head of some companies, presides over the Reliance Foundation, which is the one that Sánchez's wife will visit. The Foundation works, together with international organisations and non-governmental organisations, to empower the country's communities, with initiatives in education, health care, rural transformation and disaster response. <strong>It will be the first time that Begoña Gómez accompanies her husband on an official bilateral trip, since she has been involved in legal problems.</strong> Thus, she has not been present on the bilateral official trips that Pedro Sánchez has carried out after the summer, such as the one that took place from 8 to 10 September to China, where he was received by the country's president, Xi Jinping. She also did not accompany the President of the Government on the tour he made at the end of August to several African countries, specifically Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal. She had done so in October 2022 when Sánchez made an official trip to Kenya and South Africa. However, Begoña Gómez accompanied Sánchez during his stay in Paris on June 27 and 28, on the occasion of the 33rd edition of the Olympic Games. Then, in response to a question asked by Servimedia through the Transparency Portal, Moncloa responded that the President of the Government is accompanied by his wife to “events” when “the needs of protocol and representation so determine or advise”. She added that her presence at official events is carried out “as the wife” of the head of the Executive, “not as a representative or public official with her own agenda, with the president's agenda being what determines the events in which her participation is required”. On this occasion, Begoña Gómez will be with her husband in both Vadodara and Bombay, where they will probably also visit Bollywood, the Indian film industry, considered the largest in the world. The President of the Government will be in Vadodara on the 28th, in the state of Gujarat, where Narendra Modi was born, and where he was the top ruler. It will be there where the two leaders will meet and participate in a meeting with leaders of large Spanish and Indian companies. In addition, they will visit the Airbus factory, where 40 of the 56 C295 aircraft ordered by the Indian Air Force will be manufactured. Modi and Sánchez have already been able to talk on several occasions, by telematic means and in person at some international forum, and now they will be able to talk more calmly, both on international issues, as well as on bilateral relations, in which there are no disputes. In any case, the President of the Government may be interested, among other things, in the possibility that India could award Navantia the construction of six submarines for the Navy of the Asian country, a contract, for which it is competing in alliance with the Indian construction company Larsen & Toubro, and which would be valued at around 4.8 billion euros. Navantia competes with the German firm ThyssenKrupp.
