Dhaka, Oct 29 – Spain wants a public statement from Dhaka supporting the Madrid’s position over the Catalan independent movement, said Spanish Ambassador to Bangladesh Alvaro de Salas on Sunday. He said Bangladesh has already expressed its sympathy to Spain’s position and told him that it will never recognise the independence of Catalonia. “We requested the government of Bangladesh. Immediately, we’ve got sympathy from Bangladesh to our position.”
“At this stage, we want something else from Bangladesh as Parliament of Catalonia declared independence on Friday. Maybe that Bangladesh will issue a public statement,” the ambassador said while briefing the media at his residence in the city.
“We’re very thankful to Bangladesh government as they understand our position and we think we’ll get (official) support because we’ve been partners for many years,” Salas said.
He said many governments and the European Union (EU) have already given the official support to the position of Spain. “We’re expecting in next few days that all countries will support Spain’s position officially.”
Salas said he conveyed the message to Madrid that Bangladesh is not going to do anything like supporting the independence of Catalonia. “Madrid is happy because the government of Bangladesh is our friend.”
The Spanish envoy said Spain has been supporting Bangladesh over the Rohingya issue from the very beginning of the crisis.
He said Spain as an EU member has made many statements condemning what Myanmar has been doing and saying that action taken by Myanmar is a violation of human rights.
Noting that though Spain is not part of the UN Security Council, Spain has influence among the Latin American countries and lots of the Latin American countries have voted in the council. Being a friend of Bangladesh, Spain influences them saying that Rohingyas come from Myanmar asking for a negotiation for a diplomatic solution, he added.
Pointing at the upcoming ASEM Foreign Ministerial Meeting scheduled to be held in Naypyidaw on November 20-21, the diplomat said, “The Rohingya situation will be there.The Rohingya situation is also discussed in Brussels. Spain is one of the first members of the EU. Of course, we support Bangladeshi government…There’s a signal from the EU that this situation has to be solved.”
“Our position is very clear. There’s no doubt that we support Bangladesh. Because, we understand that it’s a problem of Myanmar and has to be solved in Myanmar,” he said.
About Catalan, the Spanish diplomat said no government in the world other than Venezuela has been sympathised to the independent movement of Catalonia, the northeastern region which has some 19 percent contribution to Spanish GDP.
President of Spain Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nuria Lopez who hailed from Catalonia and has been living in Bangladesh for the last 24 years said Catalonia is not colony rather it is the integrated part of Spain.
Following the declaration of independence of Catalonia region, the Spanish government took control of the northeastern region, dissolved its parliament and announced new regional elections for December 21.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday said his cabinet had fired the Catalonia regional president Carles Puigdemont and declared the new elections to be held on December 21.
There are 17 regions like Catalan in Spain. Spain has some 47 million population while Catalonia7.5 million. – UNB
