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El Embajador de España en Washington DC, Ramón Gil-Casares, presidió el pasado día 1 de junio el acto del Día de las Fuerzas Armadas 2016, celebrado con una recepción oficial en su propia residencia.
El acto comenzó con la interpretación de los himnos nacionales de España y de los Estados Unidos por la unidad de música del Buque Escuela de la Armada Española “Juan Sebastián de Elcano”, que aprovechó su escala en Baltimore, dentro de su LXXXVII crucero de instrucción, para enviar también una nutrida representación del resto de su tripulación.
Tras unas cálidas palabras de bienvenida del Señor Embajador hacia todos los asistentes, principalmente de la comunidad diplomática y de los sectores multinacionales de la defensa y la industria, el Agregado de defensa, General Angel Valcárcel, aprovechó su alocución para poner en valor el alto nivel de cooperación bilateral alcanzado en materia de seguridad y defensa con los Estados Unidos, así como la enorme contribución que, por la paz y estabilidad en el mundo, demuestran día a día los hombres y mujeres de nuestras Fuerzas Armadas, presentes hoy en veinte operaciones militares, doce países, cuatro zonas marítimas y tres continentes.
El acto, al que acudieron más de 300 invitados, fue apoyado por Airbus, Navantia, UTI e Hisdesat; servido por la Taberna del Alabardero de Washington DC; y amenizado en todo momento por la unidad de música del Buque Escuela con una rica variedad de música española.
2016 SPANISH ARMED FORCES DAY ADDRESS
June 1st, Washington D.C.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear families, colleagues and friends. As my Ambassador, I also want to thank all of you for coming today to celebrate the Spanish Armed Forces Day.
As I did in the past, please allow me to welcome our brother countries in Spanish, the second most spo-ken native language in the world, after the Chinese mandarin. Queridos amigos y compañeros de países hermanos, sabéis que me encanta utilizar nuestra rica lengua para, en nombre del Embajador, daros la bienvenida a esta casa que, sabéis, es la vuestra.
Quiero agradecer también la presencia de nuestro Buque Escuela Juan Sebastian Elcano, cuyo Coman-dante ha tenido la generosidad de venir acompañado con una parte de su dotación y con su unidad de música para dar mayor realce al acto.
This is the third time I commemorate with you our military Day here in Washington DC, which means that it will be the last one for me. A lot of things happened during this time, but don’t worry I am not planning to mention all of them because I don’t want to be “chided” once more by my Ambassador and by my own staff for speaking too much.
But if there is something I really want to highlight today is our cooperation with the United States, which has dramatically improved during these past three years by, among other things, hosting four US Navy destroyers ships at Rota naval base to provide European missile defense, and by increasing the number of US Marines troops at Morón Air Base to carry out missions in Africa and the Middle East. Needless to say, as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, General Selva, told me when he was the Commander of USTRANSCOM, how important both locations, Rota and Morón, are to provide strategic logistic sup-port to the United States.
Today, because the world has changed, there are in Spain about 6.000 US military and civilian people to counter with us the threats on the so called southern flank, in order to keep a Europe that is whole and free and at peace. Just as an example of this level of confidence and understanding, I’m more than happy to say that last year we doubled the number of bilateral training and exercises with all US military ser-vices.
It is time now to look for yet more new opportunities to work together. I think there is still room to strengthen our collaboration in areas like intelligence sharing, which is essential to build a trust between two countries that share the common goal of providing peace and stability around the world, or in cyber defense, once our Spanish Cyber Command has reached its full operational capability. Industrial and technology cooperation is another key area where we need to evolve. As a matter of fact, my staff is organizing a third US-Spain Industry Day, and working hard now to promote close relationship between the research labs that our respective military services are so proud of.
Once our economy has started to recover my Minister of Defense has announced his willingness to launch three new major programs: 8x8 armored vehicle for our Army, new frigates to be built by the Spanish company Navantia for our Navy, and MQ-9 Reaper drones to be delivered by the American com-pany General Atomics for our Air Force.
I know we are far from reaching the 2% GDP requested by NATO, but people are more important, much more important, than money. It’s our people, our brave people who, in spite of all the financial restraints they face, are deeply engaged in twenty different military operations, in twelve countries, in three con-tinents and in four maritime zones, demonstrating day by day how eager we are to fulfill our obligations and commitments, either with the Alliance, the European Union, the United Nations or the United States of America.
Dear colleagues, this year I don´t want to finish without my deepest appreciation to both the Department of Defense and the community of Defense Attachés for their assistance in providing me with all I needed to better serve my Armed Forces in this great country. It has been an honor to serve as a humble crew member of our three main “ships”: friendship, partnership and comradeship. Their kindness and gener-osity will remain with me forever.
And now, following our military tradition, before we partake of our “tapas”, sponsored by Airbus, Navan-tia, UTI and Hisdesat, and prepared by the Spanish restaurant La Taberna del Alabardero, I kindly request from all of you, on behalf of our Minister of Defense and with the permission of my Ambassador, to join me in a toast to our first soldier, to His Majesty the King of Spain. ¡POR EL REY!
Washington DC, 06/01/2016
