{"id":109003,"date":"2026-05-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=109003"},"modified":"2026-05-17T03:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:01:34","slug":"saudi-spain-now-have-a-strategic-partnership-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/05\/17\/saudi-spain-now-have-a-strategic-partnership-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi, Spain now have a strategic partnership council"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi <\/strong>Arabia <\/strong>and Spain move to deepen ties during Madrid talks: <\/strong>Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Spanish counterpart Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares signed an MoU to set up a strategic partnership council, as well as an agreement to waive visas for diplomatic, special, and service passport holders, according to a statement<\/a> from the Foreign Ministry. The council will cover cooperation in security, defense, trade, investment, culture, and multilateral coordination.<\/p>\n

Spain already lends a hand <\/strong>in Saudi infrastructure and defense projects.<\/strong> A Saudi-Spanish consortium built and runs the Haramain High-Speed Railway linking Makkah and Madinah, while Talgo<\/a> has an order from Saudi Railways for 20 more high-speed trains. On the defense side, Spanish shipmaker Navantia is delivering<\/a> three additional Avante 2200 corvettes to Saudi Arabia, adding to an earlier batch of five ships.<\/p>\n

\n

AND- Another move by the Kingdom to keep things under control: <\/strong>Yemen\u2019s warring parties agreed to a prisoner swap involving 1.75k detainees, including seven Saudis held by the Houthis \u2014 the largest exchange since 2015 \u2014 the Financial Times<\/a> reports. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Saudi lobbying, diplomatic pressure, patience, and clear signalling they want to de-escalate with the Houthis, this wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d said Basha Report founder Mohammed al-Basha.<\/p>\n

Why it matters: <\/strong>The move reflects Riyadh\u2019s push to protect its energy infrastructure, reduce disruption risks around the Bab al Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and limit potential deeper involvement by the Houthis in the Iran-Israel conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The council will cover cooperation in security, defense, trade, investment, culture, and multilateral coordination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2568],"tags":[587,10,5007],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-109003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","tag-diplomacy","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-saudi-spanish-relations","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"c42d7be5-11df-473a-9d5c-99b5d6bf73ed","order":"7","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/5\/913.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Saudi, Spain now have a strategic partnership council","related_issue":[108992],"teaser":"The council will cover cooperation in security, defense, trade, investment, culture, and multilateral coordination","photo_link":"","related_sponsor":"","voice_url":"","en_translation_ref_id":"","section_story_id":""},"yoast_head":"\nSaudi, Spain now have a strategic partnership council - 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