Spanish Ambassador Pablo Bravo said here Sunday that “two trainee pilots have already been sent to Spain for training following an agreement signed between Saudi Ministry of Defense & Aviation and Spain.”

In his interview, Bravo also spoke about the performance of Spanish team in the FIFA World Cup 2010, the Riyadh-Madrid relation in education sector, parliamentary affairs, railways and Saudi investment in that country.

Asked about the details of the pilot-training program, the ambassador said that the program was part of a training project on the use of the Eurofighter EF-2000, made jointly by Spain, the UK, Italy and Germany.

He said that the two trainee pilots currently undergoing training would be part of a group of several Saudi pilots who would be trained in a staggered schedule in Andalusia along with Spanish pilots.

In fact, the Kingdom needs at least 200 pilots and engineers to maintain and operate its fleet of 72 Eurofighters, which it purchased for more than five billion euros. The pilots, he said would be trained at Moron de La Frontera airbase, located in southern Spain. He said that Moron’s massive flight line, refueling system, long runway and prime location on the Iberian Peninsula, makes it a vital link in any operation moving east from the United States.

Referring to the growing cooperation between Riyadh and Madrid in the field of defense and aviation, Bravo said that EADS-Casa would open its office in Jeddah with an aim to boost its presence in Saudi Arabia. EADS-Casa, he said, had already delivered four tankers out of six ordered by the Kingdom recently. This Spanish company, he said, has emerged as a major global aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark military transport aircraft designs to its credit.

Asked about cooperation in the fields of education and culture, the envoy said that “a draft agreement is currently awaiting endorsement from Saudi Ministry of Higher Education in the context of King Abdullah Scholarship Program.”

He called on the two sides to speed up the process of signing the accord, which would help boost the number of Saudi students to 2,000 in Spanish academic institutions within a couple of years. There are only about 100 students in Spain at the moment, he added.

He, however, pointed out that four Spanish universities signed broader cooperation agreements with Saudi universities during the recent visit of Saudi Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari.

On the question of cooperation in parliamentary affairs, the envoy said that a Saudi-Spanish Parliamentary Friendship Committee had already been set up to discuss issues of common interest and review ways to enhance cooperation between Shoura Council and Spanish Parliament. In this context, he pointed out that Spanish Senate President Javier Rojo had invited Shoura Chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh to visit Madrid.