RIYADH, 14 August 2005 — Spain may become the fourth country after the US, Britain and France to sign an economic offset program with the Kingdom as an offshoot of military cooperation between the two countries.
Spain’s new ambassador to the Kingdom, Manuel Alabart, said that his country was seeking a significant expansion of bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia, including defense, energy, water treatment and tourism sectors.
Earlier the ambassador referred to the recent visit to Riyadh of King Juan Carlos who offered his condolences on the death of King Fahd.
Crown Prince Sultan announced earlier in the presence of Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono in Riyadh that “a delegation will visit Spain to study the prospects of strengthening (military) cooperation through an economic offset program.”
The crown prince has long been an advocate of strong economic and defense ties with Spain. During his visit to Madrid in September 1997, a communique issued by the two countries stated that there would be an exchange of visits between defense experts from both sides in order to identify ways of developing cooperation between them. The communiqué also pointed out that the two countries resolved to strengthen their long-standing bilateral relations, particularly in the economic field through the Saudi-Spanish Committee for Economic Cooperation. Prince Sultan also proposed the establishment of a Saudi-Spanish military committee to lay the foundation for military cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces, The fact that eight years on bilateral relations between the two countries had not expanded to a significant level despite their otherwise excellent relations was underscored by Ambassador Manual himself.
He attributed the 3:1 balance of trade in favor of Saudi Arabia to “a few hurdles” created by the absence of an Investment Protection Treaty between the two countries. The bilateral trade stood at $2.8 billion last year, with Saudi exports to Spain valued at $ 2 billion and its imports from Spain standing at $800 million.
Another problem, according to the ambassador, is that the two countries have not yet concluded an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation.
“This is still under negotiation,” he observed. He hoped that once the two agreements were in place, it would give a real boost to Spanish exports to the Kingdom.
The situation is set to change with Spain seriously considering investment in Saudi Arabia. “Our country is one of the ten major exporters of capital in the world and the second in Latin America and Europe after the US in terms of capital export. We would now like to promote export of capital to Saudi Arabia. It will be a new development and shows how close our country is to the Kingdom.”
Spelling out his priorities, Ambassador Manuel said they would include both promotion of economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries. On the economic side, he will call on Amr Abdullah Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, to explore the prospects of promoting investments between the two countries.
He will also hold talks with senior officials of the Council of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry for strengthening cooperation between the chambers of commerce on both sides. One of his priorities in this field would be to facilitate exchange of trade delegations’ visits and organize seminars in the fields of energy, water treatment and tourism.
In this context, the ambassador disclosed that Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, signed last month a ten-month contract with a Spanish consultancy company to provide technical support concerning management and maintenance in the areas of travel, tourism and accommodation at tourist spots.
On the cultural front, the embassy will hold a Saudi artists’ exhibition and promote cultural exchange on a reciprocal basis.
“Both countries have a lot in common in their cultural relations. It will be my endeavor to build on those relations through trade and tourism,” he added.