India-Spain decides to celebrate 2026 as India-Spain year of culture, tourism and AI

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], October 28 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed happiness that India and Spain have decided to celebrate 2026 as the India-Spain Year of Culture, Tourism, and AI.
He also said that India and Spain people-to-people connection has strengthened our ties.
Whether it's food, films, or football, our strong people-to-people connect has always strengthened our ties, PM said. PM Modi expressed happiness that India and Spain have decided to celebrate 2026 as the India-Spain Year of Culture, Tourism, and AI, as per a Prime Minister's Office press release.
"The cultural connect between India and Spain has its own importance", stated the Prime Minister. He remarked that Father Carlos Valle had come from Spain and settled in Gujarat and spent fifty years of his life. He further added that Father Valle had enriched the culture with his thoughts and writings. Shri Modi stated that he also had the good fortune of meeting Father Valle and the Government of India honored him with Padma Shri for his great contribution, as per the release.
"Concluding the address, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that today's event will inspire many new joint collaboration projects between India and Spain. He extended an invitation to the Spanish industry and innovators and encouraged them to come to India and become partners in the country's development journey," as per the release.
Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel, Union Minister for Defence Rajnath Singh and Union Minister for External Affairs S Jaishakar were present on the occasion among others.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi and his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, jointly inaugurated the TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing C-295 aircraft at TATA Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) Campus in Vadodara.
Under the C-295 programme, a total of 56 aircrafts are to be delivered out of which 16 are being delivered directly by Airbus from Spain and remaining 40 are to be made in India, as per the release.
Tata Advanced Systems Ltd is responsible for making these 40 aircrafts in India. This facility becomes the first private sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for military aircraft in India. It will involve the full development of a complete ecosystem from the manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete lifecycle of the aircraft, the release stated.
Apart from Tatas, leading defence public sector units such as Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Bharat Dynamics Ltd, as well as private Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises will contribute to this program. Earlier in October 2022, Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone for the Vadodara Final Assembly Line (FAL), as per the release.