CNBC-TV18 engaged with Juan Antonio March Pujol, Spain’s Ambassador to India, to explore the strategic defence partnership and the future of bilateral relations between the two nations.
Below are the excerpts of the interview.
Pujol: ….We have approved in October in Vadodara during the visit of the Spanish Prime Minister and the Indian Prime Minister that we are going to have 2026 as the year of India and Spain for culture, tourism and artificial intelligence. So this is going to connect very much our enterprises in India and Spain where artificial intelligence is very important.
Obviously one area where artificial intelligence is key is in defence. In the area of submarines, we have developed a very, very advanced system to have the submarines being able to be totally underwater for more than 3-4 weeks without having to come to the surface. This has been extremely well developed by our group Navantia and Larsen & Toubro the great shipyard here in India. In my view it is the most developed technology in the world for the new generations of submarines.
So we have been able to be very advanced with Airbus, and I think we will very advanced in the area of defence, providing to the Indian Navy the new generation of submarines.
Q: Navantia and L&T have come together and it has been a while since this agreement was finalised. You’re pitching for the P-75 submarine program in India. What is the status of the negotiations with the Indian side on that?
Pujol: More than negotiations. We have submitted our offer on what we can do and that is really very advanced and very performance driven. Now the Indian Navy has to decide if the different offers have the necessary qualifications. And after that it will be the opening of the different tenders. While the government will take the final decision but I think that what is important on the Spanish side is that we are very much on the idea that this has to be produced in India. It has to be manufactured in India. The same that we have made with Airbus that all these new series that will be made for the Indian aviation will be produced in Vadodara. So I think we have very high developed technology, high qualifications, the high quality, and a very good partner here in India. And the idea is that if Spain and India produces new submarines, it will be very performance driven for the Indian Navy, but also I think we will be able to export to very neighbouring countries like maybe Vietnam and others who have a very good relationship with India and this will be a very good triangular corporation of India, Spain and the third countries.
Watch accompanying video for entire conversation.
