The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, met yesterday with the Spain-India Council Foundation on the occasion of the official presentation of the Spain-India 2020 Report, “a document of high value to boost bilateral relations in the sectors of greatest interest,” according to the Ministry.
During the event, which took place at the Santa Cruz Palace, the president of the Council Foundation and vice-president of Acciona, Juan Ignacio Entrecanales, presented the report to the minister, in the presence, among others, of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Latin America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallah, and the Indian ambassador to Spain, Sanjay Verma.
According to the Council Foundation, the report is based on “three pillars”: generating knowledge maps in the main areas of interest, analyzing relations from a sectoral perspective and offering ideas and proposals to enhance bilateral relations. To this end, numerous digital surveys have been carried out, open to the participation of all those interested in Spain-India bilateral relations, in addition to bilingual digital forms for entities with bilateral impact and virtual interviews with 80 bilateral actors.
Based on this, the document – whose proposals and ideas “do not necessarily reflect the position of the Spain-India Council Foundation, nor that of its trustees, nor that of the Indo-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, nor that of any of the entities or individuals who have contributed to this exercise” – offers a series of proposals to improve bilateral relations in which “there are no differences” and which are based on “friendship and mutual respect”.
Specifically, the report proposes “raising the level of the bilateral relationship” from the current Partnership for Peace, Growth and Innovation (PGPI) between Spain and India to “a strategic partnership that reflects Spain’s bond with India as its main partner in South Asia.” “In parallel to building a strategic bilateral partnership,” it continues, “Spain can also acquire a more active role in the India-European Union relationship in a manner analogous to that of other European partners”.
In addition, the document considers it “advisable to advance bilateral cooperation with the signing of new sectoral agreements” on education, railroads, sustainable urban planning, water, sports or nuclear energy for peaceful use, and “cross-cutting agreements on customs, anti-terrorism or social security issues”.
The report is of the opinion that Spain could match its consular presence in India to that of “other European countries with similar interests and which have two consulates general, such as Italy, the Netherlands or Belgium”, by expanding its presence through the creation of a Consulate General of Spain in Bangalore that would allow “extending Spanish influence to the south of India and increasing exchanges in the scientific and technological field”. The document also considers it appropriate to further strengthen the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi and its consular section.
Within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report proposes further strengthening the weight of Asia in general, and India in particular, in its departments “in proportion to the growth of Asia’s relevance on the international agenda,” and recalls that the 2017 APCI included the intention of the Government of Spain to “celebrate a year of Spain in India”. “Although Spain has celebrated similar initiatives with China, Japan and Russia, it has never done so with India,” which is “the pending bilateral milestone in Spain-India relations”.
