A new era beckons for the relationship between Zimbabwe and Spain, largely thanks to Government’s engagement and re-engagement policy, Madrid’s top diplomat in Harare has said.
Ambassador Natividad Isabel Pena-Bonilla said this on Thursday soon after presenting her credentials to President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House in Harare.
The engagement and re-engagement drive has become a cornerstone of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy under the Second Republic.
In remarks to the media after presenting her credentials to President Mnangagwa, Ambassador Pena-Bonilla said Spain was willing to work with Zimbabwe in areas of common interest.
“I think this is going to be a new era in our bilateral relations, Spain has always been close to Zimbabwe for the past decades and we are convinced that where our interests are common, there is time to engage and re-engage as the President says, and the more we work together the further we will get and the better for all.
“We have very common interests in gender equality and women’s empowerment and both sides are fond of smart agriculture and we also want to fight against climate change,” she said.
Historically, the two countries share cordial relations although they had cooled in recent times due to the EU’s sanctions policy on Zimbabwe.
Spain is a member of the EU and is bound by the bloc’s policy.
However, ties between EU and Zimbabwe have thawed since the coming in of the Second Republic with the two holding direct formal talks in the past three years.
Two other ambassadors, Mr Simon Nyakoro Sirro of the United Republic of Tanzania and Ms Saana Halinen the ambassador of the Republic of Finland also presented their credentials to President Mnangagwa.
