23:09
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Islamabad
The Rotary Club of Islamabad Metropolitan (RCIM) held a meeting with the ambassador of Spain, Javier Carbajosa Sánchez as guest speaker to familiarise members on the salient features of his country. The event was held at the Marriott Hotel and fairly well attended by members and their guests.
Welcoming the members RCIM President Dr Shamim Zaidi thanked the ambassador for taking time out to address the gathering; introduced a couple of new members and then RCIM General Secretary Sadaf Raza introduced the speaker.
Ambassador Sanchez has a degree in law; joined the Foreign Service in 1985 and has served in various capacities in his country’s missions in Mauritania; Belgium; Ecuador; the US; UK and Algeria. Pakistan is his first posting as ambassador. He has received a number of prestigious awards. Ambassador Sanchez began by thanking the club members for inviting him to address them; said he would give some general information before answering questions on football; flamenco etc: and started his talk with a few facts and figures about his country.
In short, Spain, with a population of 47 million people, is a democracy structured in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and high living standards, including the tenth-highest ‘quality of life’ index rating in the world. It is a member of the United Nations, Nato, OECD, and WTO. After different rules it saw the rise of Islam in 1492 for a number of years. It was the Spaniards who discovered America; Spain has a conservative government; economic growth is negative and 26 per cent unemployment; bilateral relations were established with Pakistan in 1951.
Speaking about other aspects like ‘black economy’ and reforms, Ambassador Sanchez said that a strong point was the strength of Spanish enterprises, which were successful and doing extremely well — banks; the rail sector; fashion; IT; production of olive oil; wind power and others. He expressed the opinion that there was ample ground for collaboration between Pakistan and Spain and he had a very successful meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Karachi to discuss enhancement of trade between the two countries.
In conclusion he said he had been here only a few months but had found the people of Pakistan to be ‘warm, friendly and hospitable’ but there was a surprising lack of knowledge about Spain although 120 thousand Pakistanis lived there and Barcelona was jokingly referred to as ‘Pakilona!’ To this end he was hoping to be able to establish a Spanish Centre that would disseminate information and act as a venue for exchange of ideas and cultural events.
The question and answer session evoked a couple of questions on the prosaic side but none on the lighter part of life in Spain, which appeared to surprise the speaker! Anyway, a vote of thanks was given by former president, Irshadullah Khan and in conclusion the ambassador was made an honorary member of RCIM and presented a shield with the clubs insignia by Dr. Shamim Zaidi.
It was during refreshments that ambassador Sanchez was asked many questions but it’s not known whether any of them included a question on flamenco — a genre of Spanish music, song, and dance from Andalusia, in southern Spain, that includes singing, guitar playing, dance and handclaps. In recent years flamenco has become popular all over the world and is taught in many countries. Unesco declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2010.
The Rotary Club of Islamabad Metropolitan (RCIM) held a meeting with the ambassador of Spain, Javier Carbajosa Sánchez as guest speaker to familiarise members on the salient features of his country. The event was held at the Marriott Hotel and fairly well attended by members and their guests.
Welcoming the members RCIM President Dr Shamim Zaidi thanked the ambassador for taking time out to address the gathering; introduced a couple of new members and then RCIM General Secretary Sadaf Raza introduced the speaker.
Ambassador Sanchez has a degree in law; joined the Foreign Service in 1985 and has served in various capacities in his country’s missions in Mauritania; Belgium; Ecuador; the US; UK and Algeria. Pakistan is his first posting as ambassador. He has received a number of prestigious awards. Ambassador Sanchez began by thanking the club members for inviting him to address them; said he would give some general information before answering questions on football; flamenco etc: and started his talk with a few facts and figures about his country.
In short, Spain, with a population of 47 million people, is a democracy structured in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and high living standards, including the tenth-highest ‘quality of life’ index rating in the world. It is a member of the United Nations, Nato, OECD, and WTO. After different rules it saw the rise of Islam in 1492 for a number of years. It was the Spaniards who discovered America; Spain has a conservative government; economic growth is negative and 26 per cent unemployment; bilateral relations were established with Pakistan in 1951.
Speaking about other aspects like ‘black economy’ and reforms, Ambassador Sanchez said that a strong point was the strength of Spanish enterprises, which were successful and doing extremely well — banks; the rail sector; fashion; IT; production of olive oil; wind power and others. He expressed the opinion that there was ample ground for collaboration between Pakistan and Spain and he had a very successful meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Karachi to discuss enhancement of trade between the two countries.
In conclusion he said he had been here only a few months but had found the people of Pakistan to be ‘warm, friendly and hospitable’ but there was a surprising lack of knowledge about Spain although 120 thousand Pakistanis lived there and Barcelona was jokingly referred to as ‘Pakilona!’ To this end he was hoping to be able to establish a Spanish Centre that would disseminate information and act as a venue for exchange of ideas and cultural events.
The question and answer session evoked a couple of questions on the prosaic side but none on the lighter part of life in Spain, which appeared to surprise the speaker! Anyway, a vote of thanks was given by former president, Irshadullah Khan and in conclusion the ambassador was made an honorary member of RCIM and presented a shield with the clubs insignia by Dr. Shamim Zaidi.
It was during refreshments that ambassador Sanchez was asked many questions but it’s not known whether any of them included a question on flamenco — a genre of Spanish music, song, and dance from Andalusia, in southern Spain, that includes singing, guitar playing, dance and handclaps. In recent years flamenco has become popular all over the world and is taught in many countries. Unesco declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2010.
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