Eva Martinez: “The voice of the Emirates must be heard, it has a privileged position in the region”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a lot to say in the Gulf region. This is the view of Spain's Director General for the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Eva Martínez, who visited the country on 1 and 2 March and revealed to El Correo del Golfo on Sunday the main areas of cooperation that are open between the two countries. According to Martínez, the upheavals in the Gulf region have highlighted the key role of the UAE, which “is in a privileged geopolitical situation”. 

Spain, Martínez explains, “is very concerned about the stability of the Arab world” and believes that “the voice of the Emirates must be heard” because “it has a message to say”. This message, Martínez believes, helps to “understand” better a region that “is becoming more and more complex”, she believes that the regional context is now experiencing “a moment of greater tranquillity” and warns that “never” should political dialogue be abandoned and that it is necessary to continue working on “regional security schemes because countries no longer exist, regions do exist”. 

In Martinez' view, the UAE must be taken into account because not only is it a territory with a clear “vision”, but it has “already begun to apply” this strategy, in which the emphasis is on “modernisation, sustainability through renewable energies and the role of women”. In this philosophy, considers Martinez, “the Spanish experience fits perfectly” and states that the bilateral relationship between Spain and the UAE is currently “very good, very cordial”, one of its basic foundations is “the excellent relationship of the royal families”. 

This connection has enabled Spain to double the volume of exports to the UAE in the last ten years. “Right now, the UAE is the country in the Middle East to which we export the most”, she says. The relationship is also “increasingly sophisticated” in the cultural sphere, where there is “a lot of contact between universities”. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says Martínez, is committed to strengthening this political dialogue with mutual visits. On Monday, the director general will be received by the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, the influential Anwar Mohammed Gargash, with whom she will carry out “a review” of the issues on which both countries are progressing.

In this regard, she believes that the prospect of stability within four years after the start of a new term in Spain “will allow work to be better organised and to promote relations such as that with the Emirates, where much has been done, but, above all, what is most noticeable is the potential”.

One of the scenarios in which Spain is working on its potential collaboration with the UAE is Expo Dubai 2020. The Director General for the Maghreb, Mediterranean and the Middle East, together with the Ambassador to the UAE, Antonio Álvarez Barthe, visited the Spanish pavilion at the exhibition site on Sunday. Martínez considers that the space will be “very successful” because “it is very conceptual”. The Spanish pavilion, he said, “is going to be beautiful on the outside and interesting on the inside”. During her tour, she was also accompanied by Jaime Iglesias, head of the second office of the Spanish Embassy, and by Manuela García and Raúl Viña, from Expo 2020.  

In addition to the strong tradition that Spain has in universal exhibitions, Martínez points out that the success of the pavilion will be helped by the fact that the Spanish Government's objectives “fit in perfectly with what Expo 2020 is looking for”. The Spanish space is located in the Sustainability district and, she stresses, “Spain is a pioneer in renewable energies and a good example of what can be done in terms of sustainability”. For this reason, she is confident that “it will be a pavilion that is highly appreciated by visitors”. 

Martinez details that the pavilion will have “several rooms”. The first of these will highlight “Spain's contribution to world history”, recalling, for example, that “the Spanish were the first to circumnavigate the world”. Afterwards, the pavilion will emphasize “Spain's link with the Arab world, which is very evident in Spain's heritage, with extraordinary buildings that are visited by many Arabs and Muslims from around the world”, she continues. In addition, there will be an area more directly linked to sustainability. In this sense, the director general stresses that “Spain is an extraordinarily biodiverse country, at the same time it is an arid country with a great shortage of water, and the second country in the world that receives tourists. 

With 47 million inhabitants and 84.4 million tourists, Spain can “contribute its experience on how to manage this biodiversity, how to meet the water needs not only of the Spanish population, but also of these tourists”.

Finally, the pavilion will focus on showing the contributions to this field made by the startups and young Spaniards. “This is a field in which there is a lot done, but, above all, there is a lot to do and many Spanish scientists can contribute ideas to this management, which is an international challenge”, said Martínez. During her visit to the pavilion's construction site, Martínez was able to see for herself that the work is “on schedule” and that “the location is extraordinary”. She also said that the pavilion “stands out because it is original” and “it is very close to the Emirate pavilion, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, which will also be very original”.