Spain and India agreed to deepen economic and technological ties as the global competition over artificial intelligence heats up, following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
“We discussed ways to strengthen the friendship between India and Spain, especially in areas such as defense, security, technology and more,” Modi said in a social media post on X.
Sánchez is on his second visit to the South Asian country in less than 16 months and is accompanied by executives from technology firms and startups, as well as the ministers of Agriculture and Digital Transformation. He will attend the AI summit on Thursday alongside leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as well as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Sánchez and Modi discussed opportunities arising from the recently concluded India–European Union trade deal. Spain runs a trade deficit with India. In 2024, it exported $2.048 billion of goods to the country, while imports totaled $5.9 billion.
The Spanish government aims to improve access for its companies to the Indian market, particularly in agriculture — including wine and olive oil — while expanding cooperation in technology and defense.
Spain runs a trade deficit with India. In 2024, it exported $2.048 billion of goods to the country, while imports totaled $5.9 billion.
Ahead of his meeting with Modi, Sánchez met executives from about a dozen Indian companies, seeking to secure fresh investment commitments.
Defense is a key pillar of the bilateral relationship between the two nations. A joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus from Spain is manufacturing military transport aircraft in the South Asian country, a project that two leaders inaugurated in Oct 2024.
Sánchez emphasized the importance of ethical, human-centric AI and reinforced Spain's interest in expanding cooperation in technology, defense and infrastructure, according to social media post of the prime minister on X.
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