Pakistan |
Spain |
---|
Spain and Pakistan have diplomatic and bilateral relations.
After the Partition of India in 1947, the Spanish city of Ceuta received a substantial influx of Sindhi Hindus from current-day Pakistan. [1]
Even though diplomatic relations between both countries were established relatively early after the birth of the state of Pakistan, they lacked in real substance for quite a while. [2] According to documentation from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they date from 17 September 1951. [3]
Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto made an official visit to Spain in 1994. [4] During her mandate as prime minister, a Bilateral Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments and a Memorandum of Understanding on Financial Cooperation were signed in 1995. [4]
Spain, particularly Catalonia, received a substantial influx of immigrants from Pakistan in the early 2000s. [5]
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made an official visit to Spain in April 2007, visiting Madrid and CĂłrdoba and meeting Spanish prime minister JosĂ© Luis RodrĂguez Zapatero and king Juan Carlos I. [6] Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani made an official visit in June 2010, signing an agreement to remove double taxation. [7]
As of 2017, the volume of trade between Pakistan and Spain stood at $1.1 billion, of which approximately $700 million was in Pakistan's favour. [8]
As of 2021 [update] the ambassador of Pakistan to Spain was Rafat Mahdi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
In September 2021, José Manuel Albares made an official visit to Pakistan, the first one by a Spanish foreign minister, seeking to meet prime minister Imran Khan, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the Pakistani Army's Chief of Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa. [9] [10] He intended to somehow secure safe ways out of Afghanistan for the remaining Afghan collaborators with Spain in the wake of the Taliban takeover of the country. [10]