<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, received this Wednesday at the Ministry's headquarters the Indian ambassador to Spain, Shri Dinesh K Patnaik, with whom he discussed investment opportunities in the industrial sector and the strengthening of tourism exchanges.</strong></h4> “The promotion of economic and commercial relations, the attraction of investments, and collaboration to increase the potential for tourist flows between both countries have been discussed,” the minister reported through social networks. For its part, the Indian Embassy wrote, also on social networks, that during the meeting they spoke “about bilateral cooperation in the SME sector and investment opportunities in the industrial sector.” “They also discussed the strengthening of tourist flows between India and Spain,” he added. At the end of October, the President of the Government and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, signed a Joint Declaration in New Delhi that will serve as a roadmap for the coming years in the political, economic and commercial, cultural, scientific, technological, innovation, consular affairs and tourism fields. The declaration highlights the “positive evolution of bilateral trade and investment partnerships”, calls for “establishing stronger links between the business sectors of the two countries”, recognises “the technical expertise of Spanish companies” in areas such as energy, food processing, medical care and health services, the automotive industry and transport infrastructure and “the positive contributions of Indian companies to the Spanish economy in areas such as information technology, the pharmaceutical industry and the automobile and components industry”. He also defended “the role of tourism in promoting economic and business opportunities and improving understanding between the two peoples”, urged an increase in tourist flows and highlighted the interest shown by airlines in scheduling direct flights between Spain and India. The two leaders also signed a declaration to establish a fast-track investment mechanism, which aims to facilitate investment by identifying and solving the problems faced by Spanish investors with their operations in India and vice versa. The fast-tracking method allows projects to be accelerated by optimising available resources and reducing execution times to a minimum. This technique has become increasingly common in the business world. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the railway sector was also adopted, which will include the planning, design, development, construction, start-up and operation of infrastructure, as well as the management and operation of railway transport and train maintenance.
