Earlier this year, the Spanish royal family hosted a lavish dinner for the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and his wife, at the palace in Madrid. At dinner on the May 17 event, the Emir announced the Qatari sovereign wealth fund’s plans to inject 5B USD into the Spanish economy. The news came at a time of burgeoning relations between the two countries, as both sides see how their ties can assist with their respective challenges.

Qatari-Spanish trade

According to the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade, the total value of trade between Spain and Qatar stood at almost 1B EUR (1.01B USD) in 2021. One area of particular growth was Madrid’s imports from Doha which rose to 641M EUR (656M USD), a 70% increase compared to 2020. Bilateral trade has recovered partly after a decline in 2020 brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. That year saw trade worth 741M EUR (758M USD), a drop from the 2019 high of 1.3B EUR (1.33B USD).

During the Emir’s visit, Qatar and Spain inked cooperation agreements in several different sectors, among them trade, education, defense, judicial affairs, as well as healthcare and medical sciences...