The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, met yesterday with the directors of Spanish companies present in Brazil and with the heads of the Cervantes Institute in this South American country, in the first stage of a tour that will also include Paraguay.
González Laya began his working visit to Brazil yesterday, where she plans to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Alberto Franco França; the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes; and the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina.
Yesterday’s day began with a working lunch with executives of Spanish companies present in Brazil, with whom she studied “the current state and ways to deepen Spain’s economic and trade relations with Brazil”, as reported by the Ministry through its Twitter account. The minister was accompanied by the Spanish ambassador in Brasilia, Fernando García Casas.
Afterwards, González Laya held a meeting with women representatives of politics and civil society, participated in the virtual award ceremony of the Spanish School of the Year Award and met with the directors of the network of Instituto Cervantes Centers in Brazil, a country that hosts the largest number of these centers worldwide, eight in total. The day concluded with a meeting with the president of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Brazilian Senate, Kátia Abreu, in Brasilia.
During today’s visit, González Laya will sign with her counterpart – who was appointed at the end of March by the President, Jair Bolsonaro, replacing Ernesto Araujo – a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a Brazil-Spain Permanent Bilateral Commission, which provides for the permanent exchange of information through a regular and flexible bilateral exchange mechanism, and a Memorandum of Understanding on Sports.
The visit will also serve to give a boost to the coordination instruments between the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC). Spain recently sent Brazil a shipment of six tons of COVID-19 drugs worth 450,000 euros, in response to a request for international aid from the Bolsonaro government. Brazil is the third country in the world with the most cases, with almost 15 million (behind only the United States and India), and the second with the most deaths, with 415,000, behind only the USA.
The tour will continue tomorrow in Asunción, where the Minister will meet with the President of the Republic of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Euclides Acevedo; and the Minister for Children and Adolescents, Teresa Martínez. During the meeting with her counterpart, the VII Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination of Bilateral Policy between Spain and Paraguay, one of the main instruments of political relations between the two countries, will be held.
In addition, the state of economic relations will be addressed in view of the importance of Spanish investment in Paraguay and the possibility of increasing trade flows between the two countries. The Minister will also have the opportunity to visit the Cultural Center of the Spanish Embassy Juan de Salazar and to meet with Spanish NGOs present in the country.
