Albares will have an agenda focused on Latin America and several acts with Blinken in New York

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, of the European Union and of Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has planned an agenda very focused on Latin America as well as several events together with the North American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during the next week on the occasion of the UN General Assembly, diplomatic sources have informed Europa Press.

Albares will arrive in New York on Monday afternoon after accompanying the King and Queen to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London and will keep a separate agenda from that of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

This agenda includes a meeting with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, with whom the minister will also host – together with Bangladesh and Botswana – the ministerial meeting of the Global Action Plan against COVID-19, an initiative born as a result of the summit on this issue. organized by the United States last September.

Similarly, according to sources, Albares was invited by his American counterpart to a transatlantic dinner as well as the Atlantic Cooperation Initiative meeting.

Apart from these events, which highlight the good relations that currently exist between Spain and the United States, the other major interest on his agenda will be Ibero-America. Thus, as usual, a breakfast is planned with Ibero-American foreign ministers.

Meetings with Ibero-America

The appointment on this occasion, the sources explain, is particularly important as it will serve to prepare the meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to be held at the end of November in Buenos Aires, as well as for planning the Ibero-American Summit in the Dominican Republic in March.

The Government considers both appointments to be of great importance since it wants to make the strengthening of the relationship with Ibero-America one of the great priorities of its rotating EU Presidency in the second half of 2023, on whose preparations Albares is already working. In this sense, the November meeting in Argentina will be the prelude to the EU-CELAC summit that will take place under the Spanish presidency, the first since 2015.

In line with Spain’s interest in this region, the minister plans to hold bilateral talks with some of his counterparts, such as the Argentine Santiago Cafiero, the Venezuelan Carlos Faría – who has not yet met – and, predictably, others have sources specified.

In Foreign Affairs they are also working to close meetings with ministers from other countries outside the region, even if they have not wanted to provide more details for now.

On the other hand, he plans to speak to the American Society / Council of the Americas (AS / COA) “think-tank”, will participate in a business forum organized by the Chamber of Commerce and in which Sánchez will also be present, and in the meeting of the Group of Friends of the Victims of Terrorism, among others, according to the sources cited.

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