The Diplomat
The President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, took advantage of his official visit to Spain yesterday to learn about the Spanish experience in the installation of modular hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
The Guatemalan president was received yesterday by the King and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on the occasion of his official trip to Spain, prior to his participation in the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will take place between today and tomorrow in Andorra. At the end of the day, Giammattei was entertained by Philip VI, together with the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, with a dinner in his honor at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. The Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Andorra make up the current troika of the Ibero-American Summit due to their status as hosts of the previous (Guatemala, in 2018), the current (Andorra) and the next edition of the Summit (Dominican Republic in 2022).
Alejandro Giammattei was received yesterday morning by the King at the Zarzuela Palace, where he was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Pedro Brolo; the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallach; and the Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala in Spain, Monica Renata Bolaños. During this meeting, as reported by the Guatemalan President himself in a message posted on Facebook, the two heads of state exchanged views on the bilateral relationship between Guatemala and Spain and on the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Later, he was received at the Moncloa Complex with Pedro Sánchez, with whom he attended the signing of a memorandum of understanding for bilateral consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala with the objective of institutionalizing and systematizing bilateral political contacts and the follow-up of matters of common interest.
The Guatemalan President also held a meeting with representatives of the company Arpa Equipos Móviles, which built modular hospitals in Valencia, Zaragoza and Madrid to reinforce assistance to COVID-19 patients, according to Efe agency. According to the local Guatemalan press, the Guatemalan president’s objective is to rectify last year’s failed attempt to set up a temporary hospital in the Parque de la Industria to attend 3,000 patients and, therefore, he took advantage of his visit to Spain to learn in detail about the operation of the modular or field hospitals in these three Spanish cities and to contract with the aforementioned company the construction of this type of facility in Guatemala.
In addition, President Giammattei also took advantage of his visit to Spain to negotiate an agreement with the Government of Sánchez for the hiring of temporary Guatemalan workers, mainly in the agricultural sector, an “extremely successful” model that Guatemala has already implemented with Canada and which it wants to transfer to other places, and to discuss Spain’s participation in the commemorative events of the country’s bicentenary.
