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On Tuesday 21st March the SRAP President, Dr. Ángel López-Sánchez (Macquarie University) attended a Diplomacy networking event at the Spanish Embassy in Canberra with the recently created group of “Australia-Spain Parliamentary Friendship group”.
Part of the participants of the Diplomacy Event at the Spanish Embassy in Canberra, Tuesday 22nd March 2023, including Steve Georganas MP (Federal Member for Adelaide), Senator David Van (Senator for Victoria, lead of the “Australia-Spain Parliamentary Friendship group»), Hon Scott Buchholz (Federal Member for Wright) , Augusto Vila Barrón (Military, Naval and Air Defense Attaché, Spanish Embassy in Australia), Mr. Javier Salido ( General Director for Asia and the Pacific, Department of Foreign Affairs, Spanish Government), Mrs Silvia Fernández (President of La Cámara), Mr Pablo Santos (Vice-President of La Cámara), Ms Coral Martínez Iscar (Director, Instituto Cervantes Sydney, and Cultural Consul of Spain in Australia) and Dr Ángel López-Sánchez (MQ and SRAP President).
We had the opportunity of meeting several Australian parliamentarians, including Steve Georganas MP (Federal Member for Adelaide), Senator de Hon David Fawcett (Liberal Senator for South Australia), Hon Scott Buchholz (Federal Member for Wright) and Senator David Van (Senator for Victoria, lead of the “Australia-Spain Parliamentary Friendship group»), as well as some Ambassadors of Spanish-speaking countries (Chile, Mexico, Peru), the EU Ambassador (H.E. Gabriele Visentin) and other diplomats and industry people.
As special guest, the Spanish General Director for Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Javier Salido (Department of Foreign Affairs, Spanish Government), was also invited to attend. Australia and Europe are near to close a new trade deal, that has been lead by Spain, and it is expected to be signed during the second half of the year, in the 6-months period of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.
The Spanish Ambassador, H.E. Alicia Moral Revilla, and the EU Ambassador, H.E. Gabriele Visentinm, during the event.
In her speech, the Spanish Ambassador, H.E. Alicia Moral Revilla, emphasised again the need of science diplomacy and the important role that associations such SRAP have for connecting researchers and diplomats. She acknowledged the successful role as SRAP President .
The EU Ambassador H.E. Gabriele Visentin, mentioned the strategic interest of having Australia participating in the Horizon Europe program, following the success of New Zealand to be part of it since 2023. The SRAP President Dr. Ángel López-Sánchez stressed the importance for Australian researchers to be able to participate directly in the Horizon Europe program. All agreed that this should be an important point for our science diplomacy events in 2023, both for the 2023 Australia-Spain Research Forum (on Friday 3rd November 2023 at Macquarie University) and the Malaspina Award Ceremony (on Friday 17th November 2023 at the Shine Dome of the Australia Academy of Science, Canberra). They also discussed involving similar associations of SRAP for France, Italy and Germany.
The Spanish Ambassador, H.E. Alicia Moral Revilla, and the EU Ambassador,H.E. Gabriele Visentinm also talked about promoting the full ESO membership for Australia.