12th Session of India-Spain Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation in New Delhi
Commerce Secretary, Sunil Barthwal, and Xiana Mendez, Secretary of State
for Trade, Government of Spain co-chaired the 12th Session of India-Spain Joint
Commission for Economic Cooperation (JCEC) on 13th April, 2023 in New Delhi.
Both sides celebrated this Golden Jubilee edition of India-Spain Joint
Commission mechanism which was established in 1972. During the past 50 years, a
remarkable enhancement of bilateral trade and investment has taken place. With
an investment of USD 3.7 Bn, 250 Spanish Companies are active in India and 40
Indian Companies are present in Spain working in different sectors such as IT,
Pharma, Renewable Energy, Automobiles, Infrastructure etc.
Xiana emphasised the importance of India-Spain relationship and the
Spanish partnership in India’s development stories. Spanish side has reaffirmed
the further cooperation in the various sectors including in the field of Civil
Aviation such as Automation, Surveillance and NavAids, High Speed Railways,
Railways networking, Signalling, Traffic management etc.
Both sides also agreed for further cooperation in the field of Renewable
Energy, Shipping, Ports, Tourism, Infrastructure, Food Processing, Pharmaceuticals,
Technology, Innovation, and Defence sector.
The status of various MOUs were also reviewed including those of
important interest for bilateral relations such as MOUs on Migration and
Mobility, Agreement on Social Security, Cyber Security etc.
Both sides also discussed various Market Access Issues faced by their
exporters and agreed to resolve the same through bilateral discussions.
India and Spain are looking forward to a considerable progress in the
ongoing India-EU FTA Negotiations during the upcoming Spanish Presidency of EU
from July to December, 2023.
The Spanish side congratulated India on the excellent progress of the
Indian presidency of the G20 so far and offered its support and cooperation for
the success of G-20 TIWG.