Albares discusses the Hormuz situation and the EU-India agenda with his Indian counterpart

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares met this Thursday with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to discuss “the situation in Hormuz and the EU-India agenda.” “Meeting with my Indian counterpart, my good friend Subrahmanyam Jaishankar,” Albares posted on social media. “We have excellent bilateral relations,” he continued. “We discussed the situation in Hormuz and the EU-India agenda,” he specified. “Spain and India are committed to democracy and multilateralism,” he concluded. The meeting took place in Limassol, on the occasion of Albares' participation in the Informal Meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers, within the framework of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU, in which Subrahmanyam Jaishankar participated as a guest. Both Jaishankar and the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal, attended the meeting due to the “important role” both countries play in the Middle East “through their extensive diplomatic engagement throughout the region,” as explained at the press conference by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. Albares' last meeting with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar took place last January in Delhi, during the minister's official visit to India. At that meeting, the two ministers discussed the possibility of elevating the bilateral relationship to the level of a strategic partnership, the highest level of relationship that two states can maintain with each other. Spain has agreements of this type with countries such as China, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar. According to Albares, “the appropriate framework” to elevate the bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership is the Spain-India Dual Year, which the two countries will celebrate in 2026, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. This was agreed upon during the visit made in 2024 by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. That meeting took place just days after the European Union-India summit, where the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union was finalized, creating the world's largest free trade area with a market of 2 billion people. A month later, Pedro Sánchez traveled to New Delhi to participate in the India AI Impact Summit 2026, where he advocated for “an inclusive global framework for the governance of Artificial Intelligence” through the United Nations.

Related Content

50 years since Juan Carlos I's trip to the US that sealed international support for the Transition

The “Madrid Declaration” calls for gender parity “in all areas of foreign policy”

A political ally of Kast, Juan Antonio Coloma, is Chile's new ambassador to Spain

The Government of Peru dismisses its ambassador in Spain, who will continue in office until the end of July

The Cervantes Institute will hold its Annual Directors' Meeting in Jerez at the end of July