Overview
- King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia received Sultan Haitham bin Tariq with full military honors at the Royal Palace before a Senate session, a Zarzuela lunch and a gala dinner; a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and a Spain–Oman business forum follow on Wednesday at El Pardo.
- During the gala, Felipe VI urged restraint and a halt to violence in the Middle East and highlighted Oman’s role as a regional mediator and partner on maritime security.
- Spanish coverage says six memorandums of understanding are slated to be signed during the visit, covering transport and infrastructure, agriculture and food security, culture and sport, clean energy transition, water management and investment, alongside a reciprocal visa waiver for diplomatic, special and service passports.
- In keeping with protocol, Spain awarded the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic to the sultan and conferred other grades of the order on members of the Omani delegation.
- The visit, rescheduled after a May postponement, follows the sultan’s March amnesty of Spanish citizen Fátima Ofkir; the foreign minister’s absence from the morning reception was notable, though he attended the evening gala.