Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was welcomed to India on Monday with a flower-filled open-top parade alongside counterpart Narendra Modi, as Madrid seeks to boost investment in the world’s fifth-largest economy.

The duo waved to crowds in a vehicle smothered in orange marigold garlands on their way to inaugurate a military aircraft factory, a collaboration between Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus, in Vadodara in Gujarat state.

It is the first visit by a Spanish premier to India for 18 years.

India’s defence ministry agreed to a $2.5 billion deal for 56 cargo and troop-carrying C295 aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space in 2021.

While 16 will be assembled in Seville in Spain — with the first deliveries made last year — the 40 remaining will be built in India.

The Indian plant in Vadodara will complete the first “Made in India” C295 aircraft in 2026.

“This factory will not only strengthen India-Spain relations, but also the ‘Make in India and Made for the World’ mission,” Modi said at the inauguration.

“It also reinforces India’s position as a trusted partner in global aerospace manufacturing.”

Sanchez said Airbus had opened a new chapter in India’s defence and space industry.

“This project strengthens our industrial ties while underlying our country’s deep commitment as a reliable and strategic partner,” he said, speaking in English.

“It shows, as well, the capabilities of the Spanish defence industry.”

‘Robust and growing’

India says trade between the nations is “robust and growing”, totalling $9.9bn in 2023, with India exporting $7.17bn and importing $2.74bn.

Spain, the 16th-biggest foreign investor in India with more than 280 Spanish companies in the country, sees opportunities including in construction, pharmacy, energy, as well as in the railways industry.

Leaders of Navantia, Spain’s state shipbuilding company, are part of the visit, seeking potential contracts, including for submarines.

Modi visited Spain in 2017, and held talks with Sanchez at the G20 summits in 2018 and 2021, but it is the first visit by a Spanish premier to India in nearly two decades.

Sanchez, who visited China last month, is looking to consolidate relations in Asia and with both Beijing and New Delhi.

The Spanish leader is slated to visit India’s financial capital Mumbai on Tuesday, where he will hold talks with business chiefs, as well as a visit to a Bollywood film studio in a bid to seek tie-ups with Spanish firms.