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Ambassador's Message

Luis Tejada Ambassador of Spain to Bangladesh
Last 12th of October was our National Day. It commemorates another 12th of October, more than five hundred years ago, in 1492, when Christopher Columbus set foot for the first time on the island we then called "La Espanola" -the Spanish Lady-, which today is home to the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Columbus was looking for a new and shorter way to reach Asia, on behalf of the Spanish Crown. But he had unwillingly discovered a new continent, America. Just a few years earlier, the nation of Spain was born, when Ferdinand, heir to the Eastern Kingdom of Aragon, married Isabella, who was aspiring to the throne of Castille, thus establishing the dynastic unity of the two Crowns. The grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, who were better known under the joint title of the "Catholic Monarchs", was Charles I, who in virtue of the policy of creating alliances through royal marriages, was able to reign over a great part of Europe and the world. All of America, Spain, most of presentday Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and even some territories in France were under the rule of the Spanish Empire, which lasted for 150 years, until the mid-17th century.
In this sense, from its very first steps as a nation, Spain was welded to other peoples and nations. Today Spain, a country of 44 million people, still retains much of this outward looking character. We are part of the European Union and are proud to have the Euro as our common currency. We receive around 60 million tourists evety year, more than our entire population. For historical and geographic reasons, Europe, Latin America and Northern Africa have traditionally been the regions of the world with strongest economic, cultural and political ties to Spain. But in recent years, Spain has also expanded its links with Asia, driven by the spectacular expansion of the economies of this flourish-
ing continent Furthermore, at this very moment our companies are looking for new markets and business opportunities in Asia’s most dynamic countries, in part in order to compensate the contraction of the Spanish economy -still in a process of structural adjustment-but also as part of a second wave of internationalization after that of the 90s and 2000s in Europe and Latin America.
Bangladesh is indeed a success story in Asia. In het, the main driving force of our bilateral relation is the economy. Our companies are of course attracted by the booming garments industry, as everyone else is, but not exclusively. Spanish companies are now building power plants in Bangladesh for around 1.000 megawatts, being the single European country with the most contracts in this field. Spain has some of the world's leading infrastructure multinationals. In 2012 Spanish companies won concessions and contracts overseas worth more than €24 billion. Today it is possible to find one or more Spanish companies in any international tender for infrastructures in Bangladesh. This trend will undoubtedly increase in the future, as Bangladesh is one of the most promising markets for public works in the world and has a well-deserved reputation of being a serious partner that respects foreign investors and honours contracts. Isolux, TSK and Cobra have been working steadily in Bangladesh for some time. But others such as Abengoa, T^cnicas Reunidas and OHL are also sizeable and prestigious companies that have participated or are participating in tenders.
And of course, the garments sector has attracted our biggest retail companies. Inditex has had a strong position in Bangladesh for many years now. But others are continuously expanding their offices in Dhaka. All Spanish companies have an outstanding role in the Fire and Building Safety Alliance, the agreement signed by mostly European companies in order to protect the workers of the textile sector. There are also smaller but equally relevant Spanish companies who not only buy, but also invest in Bangladesh, setting up their own factories, such as Pies Cuadrados, Yu-Kom, Ragadi, or LOSAN, all of them with a growing presence in this country. This bet for long term direct investment in Bangladesh is also represented by the joint venture of two European companies, the French Lafarge and the Spanish Cementos Molins, whose factory supplies a relevant part of the Bangladeshi market with quality cement. Other
companies, such as Euromode or Indesore are one hundred per cent Bangladeshi owned, but are run by citizens who have a strong attachment to Spain, far beyond business in fact. Often, these special friends of Spain are our Embassy's and other fellow Spaniards' best support in Dhaka.
I am convinced that in the future Bangladesh will attract more Spanish and European companies. The trend of strong and sustained growth will continue in Bangladesh and the country will surely resist protectionist temptations, exemplifying its long tradition of openness to the world, under the guidance of a large set of entrepreneurs with international projection.
But our bilateral relation is not only about investment and business; it is also made up of development, culture and human elements.
AECID, the Spanish Development Agency, has carried out a number of projects in Bangladesh, most of them focused on women. We consider one of these projects, the Haor Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Project, an example in many ways. This project is supported by an IFAD loan of USD 55 million, a counterpart funding by the Government of Bangladesh for USD 32 million, and by the Government of Spain through a non-tied Ioan of USD 30 million. The goal of the project is to contribute to poverty reduction in the Haor Basin through the advancement of proper infrastructure, in order to avoid the isolation of many villages during the rainy season. The project is implemented by the very prestigious Local Government Engineering Department, of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. There are several
factors which allow us to anticipate a strong impact and sustainability in favour of the people of the area: the Bangladeshi Government’s financial involvement and direct management; the large sums to be disbursed; and the ambition of the goals.
In the cultural field, I would like to highlight the effort made by the Inditex Chair, a cultural undertaking financed by the renowned Spanish retailer and carried out by the Spanish Universities of Santiago de Compostela and La Coruna. Located in the Institute for Modern Languages of the Dhaka University, six high level Spanish professors are teaching Spanish to more than 300 Bangladeshi students this year. This is for us another good example of a generous contribution by a private firm and a taste of the potential in our mutual relations, in which civil society and private entities play a role just as important as that of governments. This is also the case of the internationally reputed painter Monirul Islam, who is as much Spanish as he is Bangladeshi, and continues to exert the unofficial yet extremely efficient role of Ambassador of Spain in Bangladesh and of Bangladesh in Spain.
Finally, in the human field, the most important contribution to our bilateral relation corresponds probably to those approximately 20.000 Bangladeshi nationals who live and work in Spain. In most cases, they are exemplary citizens, entrepreneurial, hardworking and respectful of our laws and customs. Many of them own small businesses, such as restaurants or fruit shops, and integrate well with our own nationals.
I wish you all a very happy Fiesta Nacional.