The Diplomat
The new US Ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, was received yesterday by the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, just hours before she is due to present her Letters of Credence to the King today.
Reynoso arrived in Madrid on 17 January and four days later she was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and last Monday she met the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, at an event organised by the American Business Council. As the ambassador herself wrote on her Twitter account, there she had the opportunity to talk with him for the first time, “about ways to deepen the close relationship between our countries”.
While waiting to hold a more formal meeting with the head of the Executive, which she has already requested, yesterday Reinoso went to the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence to hold a working meeting with Robles, with whom a large part of her conversation focused on the crisis in Ukraine.
According to the Ministry of Defence, Robles assured her interlocutor that Spain “is a solid, flexible and supportive ally that supports its allies in the search for a diplomatic solution”.
She also indicated that they both agreed that, ‘as NATO allies, Spain and the US share concerns and positions regarding the deployment of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border’.
Robles and Reynoso also spoke about the NATO Summit in Madrid, scheduled for the end of June, a meeting which, in the ambassador’s opinion, is an opportunity to encourage meetings between President Joe Biden and members of his Cabinet with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and Spanish ministers.
Both the minister and the ambassador attached great importance to strengthening cooperation between NATO and the European Union and to the advantage, in this regard, of the fact that the new NATO Strategic Concept and the Strategic Compass of the Union are being drafted almost simultaneously.
Julissa Reynoso will go to the Royal Palace today, along with five other new ambassadors, including Marcelino Medina of Cuba, to present His Majesty the King with the Letters of Credence accrediting her as US Ambassador to Spain.
