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Riyadh, Madrid to Develop Economic Cooperation, Military Industries

Spanish Ambassador to Asharq Al-Awsat: Joint Committee Scheduled to be Held in Spain on October 20

Spanish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jorge Hevia Sierra (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Spanish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jorge Hevia Sierra (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Riyadh, Madrid to Develop Economic Cooperation, Military Industries

Spanish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jorge Hevia Sierra (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Spanish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jorge Hevia Sierra (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Spanish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jorge Hevia Sierra said that his country was seeking to strengthen its strategic partnership with Riyadh, noting that a joint committee was scheduled to be held in Spain on Oct. 20 to review the development of bilateral economic relations.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sierra pointed to the presence of a joint defense committee, which is working on the development of a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperation in this field.

He said that many non-organizational agreements were signed in 2018, including an executive program for cultural cooperation, in addition to a memorandum of understanding on scientific and technological cooperation, and another MOU in the field of labor and social development.

“The joint statement issued on the occasion of the Crown Prince’s visit to Spain in 2018 refers to the strong partnership between our two countries,” Sierra said, stressing that the statement would represent the basis for “advancing our bilateral relations, with a special focus on the contribution that Spain can make in achieving Vision 2030.”

The ambassador emphasized the depth of the special fraternal relationship between the Spanish and Saudi royal families, which in a way frames the good dialogue between the two governments and facilitates the unique nature of the relations between the two cultures.

On areas of cooperation and agreements concluded between the two countries, Sierra said: “Through the General Cooperation Agreement of 2007, our two countries agreed to strengthen friendly relations and historical ties between their citizens, as well as to enhance bilateral cooperation. In this context, a joint committee was established and has met twice so far, in 2014 and 2018.”

He noted that around 80 Spanish companies were present in the Saudi market, covering various sectors, including the military industry, oil and refineries, combined technologies and water infrastructure, construction, infrastructure and consultancy.

Regarding the trade balance, Sierra said that merchandise exports closed last year with an approximate value of 1.9 billion euros (6.9 billion riyals), an increase of nearly 10 percent compared to 2020, while the main exported goods include machinery, mechanical equipment, ceramics and electrical appliances.

Imports, according to the Spanish ambassador, amounted to 2.9 billion euros (10.5 billion riyals), an increase of 30 percent compared to 2020, and covered fuels, in addition to mineral oils, organic chemical products, plastics and their products.

As for the volume of investments, he said that the balance of investments amounted to 483 million euros (1.7 billion riyals) for the year 2020, mainly concentrated in the crude oil and natural gas extraction sector.

The balance of Saudi investments in Spain amounted to 917 million euros (3.3 billion riyals), concentrated mainly in the sectors of oil refining, air transport, and real estate activities.

The ambassador highlighted the Saudi-Spanish cooperation in the military industry, noting that the Kingdom was a strategic partner in the region, as about 30 Spanish companies participated in the last edition of the World Defense Exhibition in Riyadh.

Spanish companies are interested in long-term partnerships in the Saudi market, which is evident through the establishment of joint ventures between SAMI and Airbus, he stated.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.