17 July 2012

Spain Briefing


Spain Briefing

Spain, in the past few months, has made efforts to inaugurate a new era of its relationship with India. The signs are already here: Spanish alternative energy companies, the forerunners in developing solar-energy, are investing in India. Can New Delhi leverage from Madrid to further its goal of affordable and sustainable development?

Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations hosted Ambassador Gustavo de Aristégui, the Ambassador of Spain to India, to discuss India-Spain relations, amongst other issues, with a focus on how Spain has developed into a major player in the alternate energy sector. Gateway House’s Ambassador Neelam Deo moderated the discussion on Spain, India and the MENA region.

Other issues were also discussed, from Spain’s financial crisis and the rise of populism in the EU, to the the Arab awakening and Islamist parties.

Ambassador Gustavo de Aristégui was formerly Deputy Head of the Spanish mission to Libya and Jordan, and a Member of the Spanish National Commission of Religious Freedom, Madrid, as expert on Islam. He has been elected to the Lower Chamber of the Spanish Parliament thrice (2000, 2004 and 2008), as the Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs of the ‘Partido Popular.’ Ambassador Aristégui is a regular contributor and analyst on Spanish and international media, and has published four books on the character of Islam and its interactions with the West.