Portugal and Spain will meet on Friday at a summit to deepen “intensive” bilateral relations and the common cross-border strategy, but also to publicly strengthen alignment within the European framework, as is the case in energy, the Spanish government said.
The 33rd Portuguese-Spanish Summit, in Viana do Castelo, will have innovation as its theme, will be preceded by a visit by the two Prime Ministers to the Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga and will involve a delegation of 18 ministers from the two governments, said Wednesday. . sources from Moncloa (the seat of the government of Spain).
Agreements and memoranda of understanding to set up two research projects will emerge from the summit, which Portugal and Spain have been working on in the context of the application of the respective European funds of the Recovery and Resilience Plans (PRR).
These projects are a “constellation of satellites for Earth observation” and the research and energy storage center of Cáceres, both scientific collaboration and research initiatives, which, according to Moncloa’s sources, have nothing to do with the announcement that the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, and the President of the The Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, made a plan in Brussels last month to develop a common electricity storage infrastructure in the Iberian Peninsula.
This announcement by Costa and Sánchez was made on the same day that Portugal, Spain and France announced that they had reached an agreement to create a green energy corridor for energy transport, providing connections between Celorico da Beira and Zamora (CelZa) and between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar), intended for ‘green hydrogen’ in the future, but with immediate gas capacity.
The technical aspects for the development of these links are being worked out between the three ministries of energy and the heads of the three governments will meet again on November 9 in Alicante, Spain, according to the Spanish executive.
At this week’s Iberian summit, this topic should be present in the closing statement of the meeting, but as a “political statement,” the same sources from Moncloa said.
Portugal and Spain, stressed that, in addition to the “deep” and “intense” bilateral relations, the Madrid government has played an “important role” in the European scenario, especially in recent times, with the energy crisis, in which they jointly defend common positions such as the Iberian mechanism to set a maximum price for gas used for electricity production and the agreement with France for the Green Energy Corridor.
Another topic that should in principle be mentioned in the final declaration of the summit, which is still under negotiation between the two governments, is the issue of shared rivers, but always within the framework of the Albufeira Convention, which regulates the flows of shared water and the revision of which, according to Moncloa, is not in question.
Sources in Madrid emphasized that the two countries “have suffered a lot” from the drought this year and it is in this context that there may be reference to the water problem from the start.
The issue of rail links must be disregarded, which the regional authorities in Portugal and Spain have insisted on, but for which no innovations are foreseen.
Nevertheless, the transport ministers will participate in the summit and memoranda of understanding will be signed for the restoration of the piers and other constructions of the international bridge over the Minho, connecting Monção with Salvaterra, and for the construction of a corridor for bicycles and pedestrians on the bridge international route of the Guadiana, which connects Vila Real de Santo António with Ayamonte.
As part of the strategy for development in border regions, which both countries announced in 2020, a “guide to cross-border work” is announced, detailing the rights that people who live on one side of the border and work on the other will have .
Also in this context, agreements will be signed on Friday regarding the cultural agenda at the border, a strategy for the sustainability of cross-border tourism, the fight against gender violence and the articulation of a Portuguese-Spanish network of entities promoting territorial cooperation in these areas .
Source: DN
