Tuesday, March 19

Albares travels to the US to meet with Joe Biden’s Secretary of State


The Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, is traveling to the United States this week to hold meetings at the highest level with the Joe Biden Administration. The main meeting will be with the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, with whom he will address the bilateral relationship between the two countries and also the NATO summit to be held in Madrid at the end of June and which is the great international showcase for the Government by Pedro Sanchez.

Sánchez sells stability in the US and “commitment” with the coalition partners

Know more

Albares will meet with Blinken in Washington three months after their meeting in Paris, taking advantage of their presence at the OECD ministerial summit in which, in addition to the NATO summit and the role of the EU, Blinken discussed the situation in America America, especially in Venezuela. On this occasion, issues of the bilateral relationship between Spain and the US will also be on the table, such as the military bases of Rota (Cádiz) and Morón de la Frontera (Seville), whose agreements have been extended annually in the last two years.

The Spanish Government is particularly interested in reinforcing ties with the US Administration after several years of practically non-existent relations at a political level during Donald Trump’s mandate. The Sánchez government applauded Biden’s arrival at the White House, which has already resulted in some agreements such as the one reached between several European countries, including Spain, to maintain the Google rate and avoid the tariffs that the Republican Administration had imposed.

Since the victory of the Democratic leader, the Government has made an effort to hold a meeting between Sánchez and Biden, which finally took place last June within the framework of the NATO summit in Brussels. However, it was limited to a greeting of less than a minute in the face of the expectations that Moncloa had created. The intention now is that there be a meeting between both leaders. “Every trip and meeting will happen when it has to happen,” Albares assures in an interview in elDiario.es published this Sunday in which he highlights the harmony between the two presidents because the relationship between the two countries is “close.”

“The United States, when it has to withdraw its Afghan collaborators in those dramatic moments of August, could resort to many countries for this transit and precisely President Biden called President Sánchez and requested the use of the joint bases. We are a reliable partner of the United States”, adds Albares. During the evacuation from Afghanistan, the coordination between Spain and the US was highlighted and it was the first time that Biden telephoned Sánchez. The absence of that call until then and the fiasco of the meeting in Brussels were criticized by the right, which assures that Spain has lost weight in the international sphere.

“That relationship is close and will be strengthened much more in the coming months. Spain is going to host the NATO summit, in which the strategic concept of the organization is going to be defined, which is something that is defined every 10 years and that is going to mark the future of the next decade. Europe’s natural ally is the United States”, states the Foreign Minister.

Albares’ agenda in the US will begin on Tuesday when he will meet with the president of Congress, Nancy Pelosi, who, in addition to being one of the country’s main authorities, has important weight in the Democratic Party. He will also take advantage of his presence in Washington to meet with congressmen and Hispanic leaders.

The USA is of special importance for Spain at an economic and business level. Sánchez’s last trip took place within this framework to try to get investors to boost the European funds of the Recovery Plan. Like the president, Albares will meet with Spanish businessmen. His visit also includes a meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) and with the Inter-American Development Bank.



www.eldiario.es