Ashraf Siddiqui
Doha
Spain and Qatar maintain a very strong partnership at the political, economic, commercial and cultural levels, according to Ambassador of Spain to Qatar HE Javier Carbajosa.
The ambassador was speaking at his country’s National Day gala reception in Doha on Wednesday. Present on the occasion were Minister of Justice HE Masoud bin Mohammed Al Ameri, Minister of State and President of Qatar National Library HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Director of Protocol Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Ambassador Ibrahim Fakhro, ambassadors, dignitaries, guests and members of the Spanish community.
Ambassador Carbajosa said this is his first Spanish National Day celebration in Qatar along with his wife Ambreen, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He added that the year 2022 commemorates the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the world concluded in Sevilla (Spain) in 1522, at the end of an extremely complicated journey led by Fernando de Magallanes Juan Sebastian Elcano.
The 12th of October, he noted, is the date of the year 1492 when Cristobal Colon, under the patronage of the Spanish Crown, sighted the coast of the Americas for the first time.
Ambassador Carbajosa said that upon the invitation of His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, the Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani paid a very successful state visit to Spain in May this year, which transformed the nature of the diplomatic bonds into a full strategic partnership, a decision that implies a special level of relations, both politically, economically and culturally.
He said that at the political level, 15 bilateral agreements and MoUs have been signed during the past two years in diverse areas such as education, economy and science. In addition, Spain has agreed with Qatar on a visa-waiver on diplomatic and special passports, adding that Spain supports the ongoing negotiations between Qatar and the European Commission to remove visa requirements for Qatari nationals.
Talking about tourism sector, he said Spain is the second destination for Qatari tourists as more than 32,000 Qataris visited the country last year.
"Spain remains as an attractive destination for luxury shopping, natural parks and wonderful beaches. Our country is the third in terms of natural areas declared Biosphere Reserves and it harbours the coast with most blue flag beaches in the entire Northern Hemisphere with the Arab legacy cities such as Seville, Granada and Cordoba, making them favourite destinations for Qataris,” he said.
Regarding economic figures, the envoy said that in 2021, bilateral trade rose by 34 percent with a value close to 1 billion Euro. He added that during the first seven months of 2022, bilateral trade rose by 31 percent driven by the increasing demand of Qatari products from Spain.
Qatar is also consolidating its position as fourth supplier of LNG to Spain, with 12 percent of the total share, a figure that is likely to further increase, he said.
He said that in the area of direct investments, Qatar´s capital investment stock has registered steady growth in the past years and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has made important investments in Spain on top of the $5 billion announced during the state visit.