The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, yesterday offered a very flattering panorama of the Spanish economy to businessmen and large investment funds of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whom he encouraged to “look at Spain as a great country to invest in and win the future”.
Sánchez arrived in Dubai last Tuesday, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto; and the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez. The main reason for the trip was his participation in the celebrations for Spain Day at the Dubai World Expo. Initially there had been speculation that King Philip VI would preside over the event, but finally the Chief Executive was chosen, in the midst of the debate on the possible return to Spain of the King Emeritus, who has been living in Abu Dhabi as an expatriate since August 2020.
“We are a modern government, with the spirit of maximizing opportunities for our companies, as well as opening the doors to foreign direct investment,” said Pedro Sánchez yesterday during the opening of the Spain-EAU Business Meeting, organized by ICEX at the Dubai Exhibition Center (DEC) on the occasion of the celebration of Spain Day. “The forecasts for 2022 of the main multilateral organizations point to a Spanish economy that is always growing in the leading group of advanced economies, and also accelerating from the figures of 2021,” continued the head of the Executive, who assured that Spain is, “by far”, the most advanced country in the implementation of the Recovery Plan with EU funds.
At the bilateral level, the President of the Government recalled that his trip to the Emirates has enabled the signing of several financial and trade agreements that will help to attract important investments to Spanish companies and advance the interests of Spanish companies present in the region. Specifically, Pedro Sánchez highlighted two bilateral agreements closed during the visit: the Reciprocal Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement, whose negotiations began in 2003, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Mubadala (Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, which manages assets of up to 230 billion euros and is involved in projects in around 50 countries) and COFIDES (Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo), for the identification and joint financing of projects.
“These instruments will serve to increase investment ties between the UAE and Spain,” stressed the president, who encouraged Emirati investors to “look to Spain as a great country to invest in and win the future,” especially within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. “We would like to increase collaboration in priority sectors for our countries,” he continued. “Countless investment opportunities are already emerging in public-private projects of the future, such as green hydrogen generation, energy storage, car batteries, circular economy, cybersecurity or data management,” he added.
The business forum was also attended by the presidents of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, as well as a large delegation of Spanish companies (Indra, Barceló, Constructora San José, TSK, Técnicas Reunidas, Airbus España, Asisa, Acciona, Duro Felguera and Alsa) which, as the president stated during the event, exercise “undoubted international leadership” in sectors such as engineering, renewable energies, water, transport, tourism, banking and information technologies. Before the beginning of the forum, the President held a meeting with two members of the Government of the Emirates: the Minister of Economy, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Mari; and the Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani Zeyoudi.
Meetings with the Prime Minister and the heir to Abu Dhabi and strongman of the Emirates
At the end of the business forum, Pedro Sánchez participated in the Official Ceremony of Spain’s National Day at Expo Dubai 2020, visited the Spain Pavilion, located in the area dedicated to Sustainability within the Expo, and held a working meeting with the Prime Minister and Emir of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, with whom he attended the signing of a long list of bilateral Memoranda of Understanding on a wide variety of topics, such as cybersecurity, industry, education, universities, health, organ transplants or COVID best practices, in addition to the two financial agreements mentioned above.
In the afternoon, Pedro Sánchez was received by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and current President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyian, with whom he signed a Joint Declaration upgrading the current relationship between Spain and the Emirates to a strategic partnership and expressing the decision to increase bilateral cooperation between Spain and the UAE through the implementation of “a new and ambitious framework of relations based on the shared will to work together to achieve a fair and sustainable collective recovery after the pandemic of COVID-19”. During the meeting, the Prime Minister invited the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to pay an official visit to Spain to further develop this strategic partnership.
Finally, the President shortened his agenda in the United Arab Emirates in order to follow closely in Spain the negotiations of the labor reform, which forced him to decline, among other things, his participation in a dinner with businessmen in Dubai, where he was replaced by Reyes Maroto.
