MADRID, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Spanish experts had proposed promoting the role of Spain in different areas of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative in a latest report.
The report, entitled "The New Silk Road: recommendations for promoting Spanish participation", was released by the Institute of European Studies at the CEU San Pablo University.
It was coordinated by the Institute's director Jose Maria Beneyto, and professor and vice president of the Center of Chinese Studies "Catedra China" Enrique Fanjul.
In the report, the experts recommended improving Spain's actions in raising awareness and supporting the Initiative.
"Foreign policy towards China has been a priority for Spain for several years now," the report said.
"Partly due to these actions and also thanks to the work of private agents, the economic and commercial relations between Spain and China have enjoyed sustained growth, although there is still a lot of room for growth," it said.
Among the actions they had proposed are improving information about the Belt and Road Initiative with the creation of a website, lobbying for a unified policy from the European Union to promote transparency and good practices, creating an institutional working group and increasing the number of visits from Spanish authorities to China and organizing seminars for companies.
The report highlighted the importance of the Belt and Road Initiative, which was proposed by China in 2013.
The Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which are aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road on land and at sea.
The report said the Initiative could be of great benefit for Spain, if the country acts correctly.
"Spain has important factors in its favor, such as the experience of its companies in the development of infrastructure projects -- a sector where Spain is a world leader," said the report.
However, Spanish companies and the government should be aware of the problems caused by the lack of Spanish business presence in many Asian countries and the lack of visibility of Spain's industry and companies in this part of the world, according to the authors.
They believed Spain needed to make an important effort in multinational forums, "with the aim of promoting the adoption of good practices in the adjudication and management of projects".
"The actions of the European Union are especially important in this respect in helping to promote unified actions," wrote Fanjul and Beneyto, who believed that the Initiative opens a new world of possibilities "which go much further than the Euro-Asian corridor".
They highlighted good relations between the two nations in 2018 when Spain and China celebrated the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
"Spain and China maintain good relations at a political level, which is favorable for the development of economic relations," the report concluded.
China is Spain's largest business partner outside of the European Union, while Spain is the sixth most important partner for China within the EU, with bilateral trade rising from 12 million U.S. dollars 45 years ago to a record of over 30.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.
