Spain's Secretary of State for Trade to visit Emirates

Spain's Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, will travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this Sunday for two intense days of institutional relations. Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Arancha González Laya, visited the country a fortnight ago precisely to strengthen ties between the two nations. 

The UAE is once again receiving a representative of the Spanish government, this being the first official visit to UAE territory by the current Spanish Secretary of State for Trade. The Spanish Business Meeting with the Gulf country was to be held a year ago, but was cancelled due to the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

Within the framework of the activity developed by the Spanish Commercial Office in the UAE headed by Andrés Salinero, the Secretary of State arrives in the country this weekend. Andrés Salinero mentioned that 8,000 Spanish companies are currently exporting to the UAE. 

At the Gulfood fair, they have gone from having more than 170 companies at the last edition to around 50 at the one to be held this Sunday. This is due to the situation generated by the pandemic, causing a decline in attendance by Spanish companies. In view of this situation, Xiana Méndez shows her support for those who take part in international business events in person.

Early on Sunday Méndez will attend the inauguration of the Gulfood 2020 fair; she will visit the official ICEX pavilion of the food fair that will be held until 25 February at the Dubai World Trade Center.

He will later begin a round of meetings, starting with a meeting with the Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed al-Zayoudi. He will also meet with the heads of RTa Dubai. 

He will also meet with Spanish companies operating in the UAE during a meeting with the President, Vice Presidents and Secretary General of the Spanish Business Council.

He will also visit the Expo Dubai 2020 site, where he will be able to check the state of the Spanish pavilion. Afterwards, he will go to Abu Dhabi and attend an event related to Spanish companies collaborating in the IDEX NAVDEX defence fair.

On Monday, he will visit the pavilion of the Spanish Association of Defence, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies (TEDAE) at IDEX and will also meet with the heads of the Emirati entities Masdar and Mubadala.