Pedro Lopez Aguirre de Goa, the first Ambassador of Spain to Israel, arrived here Sunday and will present his credentials to President Chaim Herzog next Monday. Spain and Israel established diplomatic relations in January and the first Israeli envoy, Shmuel Hadass, has already taken up his post in Madrid.
In remarks to reporters, Lopez Aguirre stressed that his country’s diplomatic recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization would in no way affect its relations with Israel. He noted that the PLO has had an office in Madrid for some years and raising it to Embassy status did not herald any new developments.
He said he hoped Spain would be able to help advance the peace process in the Middle East and suggested that Israel and Spain are not rivals but friendly competitors in the sale of citrus and other agricultural products to the European Common Market of which Spain became a member on January 1. “We don’t compete because we are enemies but because we produce more or less the same things for the same clients,” he said.
The 49-year-old envoy is no stranger to Israel. He lived in Jerusalem from 1952-1956 when his father was the Spanish Consul General there. He was Spanish Ambassador to Greece before being posted to Israel and, prior to his Greek service he headed the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and African Affairs Department in Madrid. He is a native of San Sabastion in the Basque region, is married and the father of two children.
Lopez Aguirre is probably the first Ambassador to arrive in Israel by sea. He landed at Haifa from a Greek car ferry which transported his car from Athens. He said his family will join him shortly.
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