MADRID – Fifty international delegations, foreign heads of state, an enormous police force, an estimated 2,000 accredited journalists from all over the world … On 29 and 30 June, Madrid will host the NATO Summit.
In order to properly stage such a grand and heavily guarded event, the Spanish Government has already started its preparations. For the whole event, €37 million have been budgeted. This includes the rental of the Ifema exhibition centre and the fitting out of the halls. Just this alone will cost almost €20 million. Furthermore, for the catering, a little over €1 million has been set aside. Additionally, the purchase of 6,000 cartridges for electric shock weapons.
This is stated in the dossier that the Spanish news site 20minutos has seen. The proposal will be submitted on Tuesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Council of Ministers for the award without public tender of more than €37 million for the organisation of the Atlantic Alliance summit, The meeting will focus on the war in Ukraine.
Tender
In the tender documents, an amount of €4.8 million is allocated for the ‘transfer of space’. This is to include the rent of several pavilions in Ifema for this important two-day meeting. For the construction and fitting out of the halls, rooms, and spaces into which the summit will be divided, the government has allocated €14.4 million. A further €7.9 million for audiovisual services, €600,000 for technical production and organisation, and €420,000 for electricity have been budgeted.
Some €4.8 million has been programmed for the transmission of audio and video signals of the performances. Also for press conferences that may take place during the meeting. Meanwhile, signage will cost €360,000.
Catering
For the catering during the summit, the government has allocated a little over €1.1 million, and for cleaning, about €260,000. The cost of staff working over the two days, both for support and for event production, is €480,000. For the security of Ifema personnel apart from the national police, which is deployed separately, €240,000 is allocated. Furthermore, €113,000 is also set aside for transportation.
Power surge weapons for security
Additionally, in the area of security, the Government announces that Home Affairs will purchase 6,000 cartridges for electric shock weapons without a public tender. These will be used by police officers in charge of security. He states that ‘various organisations and social groups have already announced protests’.
Salary costs by professional category
The dossier specifies that in preparing the basic budget for each area, ‘care has been taken to ensure that prices are in line with salary costs by occupational category’.
It also includes a report by the State Secretary for Justice approving ‘the need’ of this ministry for the ‘urgent procurement of services’.
The report also includes an annex containing a ‘confidentiality agreement’ for the companies awarded the project to treat as confidential all information received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This information relates to ‘designs, specifications, communications, computer software and documentation’ of any kind submitted for the development of the summit.
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