Participants in the Australian Leaders Program meet with Spanish transport infrastructure officials at the Ministry of Public Works.
As part of their effort to gain a deeper understanding of Spain’s transport infrastructure sector, the Leaders met at the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Works with Alicia Segovia, Secretary-General for Technical Affairs, and Paloma Iribas, Deputy Director-General for International Relations.
Representatives from some of Spain’s most important state-owned transport companies also participated in the meeting, including Renfe, Adif, and the engineering consultancy Ineco.
“One of the reasons Spain is a global tourism powerhouse is the development and quality of its transport infrastructure,” said Alicia Segovia. Spain ranks among the countries with the world’s most advanced road and passenger rail networks, as well as having leading port and airport systems within Europe. According to Paloma Iribas, “we have the most extensive motorway and dual carriageway network in Europe.”
This was a surprising fact for several of the Leaders, many of whom had assumed that Germany, given its larger size and economic weight, would have a more developed road network.
Segovia also outlined the Ministry’s main strategic priorities. On the one hand, an Innovation Plan focused on increasing intermodality, advancing the energy transition, and optimising the various modes of transport. On the other, an Internationalisation Plan designed to encourage cooperation and collaboration between countries.
“Australia is one of Spain’s priority countries within this strategy, and we are following the country’s infrastructure plans with great interest,” she noted.
The remarkable development of Spain’s transport infrastructure is one of the key reasons behind the international success of Spanish companies in the sector. As Paloma Iribas explained, Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland.
“This means that our infrastructure includes a large number of bridges and tunnels,” she said, “which helps explain the extensive experience accumulated by Spanish companies and engineers.”
