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THE 2ND CHIEF OF THE ARMY STAFF INAUGURATES THE REMODELLING OF SPANISH ANTARCTIC BASE "GABRIEL DE CASTILLA.
The Spanish delegation held a video-conference with the minstress of Defence, the ministress of Science and Innovation and the Chief of the Army Staff.
23 Diciembre 2009
Beatriz Gonzalo/Madrid
The remodelling of the installations of Spanish Antarctic "Gabriel de Castilla" was officially inaugurated on 18th December by a delegation led by the 2nd Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Martín Villalaín.
As part of the inauguration ceremony, the ministress of Defence, Ms. Carme Chacón, and the ministress of Science and Innovation, Ms. Cristina Garmendia, along with the Chief of the Army Staff, Army General Coll, held a video-conference with the Spanish Antarctic Base in which they took advantage to highlight the magnificent example of co-operation and co-existence between the scientific and the military worlds manifest by the Antarctic Campaign, where during the South Pole summer researchers and Armed Forces members live together and carry out their labours by sharing a Spanish Antarctic Base that celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year.
It is a form of co-operation that continues to be fully valid and for which we continue to back. For this reason and to improve the conditions for personnel, the construction of a new module has been carried out which will allow undertaking a new interior layout and separating the scientific area from the living areas. The 2nd Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Martín Villalaín, transmitted an initial positive impression of the works undertaken and of the “great spirit” prevailing among the 23rd Antarctic Campaign members. “They are integrated without any problems and scientists and the Armed Forces are working jointly,” responded the ministress of Defence to a question on this matter. Before the Spanish Antarctic Base’s camera accompanying her were the ambassador of the Antarctic Treaty Special Mission, Mr. Juan Martínez-Cattáneo, and the deputy general director of Infrastructure Planning for the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Mr. José Ignacio Doncel, along with the commander of the Spanish Antarctic Base, Major Gonzálvez, and the manageress of the National Polar Research Sub-programme, Ms. Margarita Yela.
Mr. Doncel described the remodelling undertaken by the Army personnel as “exceptional" and emphasised their capacity to get the project off the ground “effectively and efficiently”, so permitting raising the quality of life for the researchers who undertake their work in the Antarctic, A quality that is also known by scientists from other countries who do not hesitate to join the Spanish campaign year after year. In turn, the representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation wished to thank the Armed Forces for their “unconditional efforts” in favour of research on the frozen continent.
The connection closed with the warmest Christmas wishes and greetings from all those present in the auditorium to everyone deployed in the Antarctic.
