The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured yesterday in Mexico that the two countries maintain a “privileged relationship” and affirmed that he does not know the meaning of the “pause” in relations announced a month ago by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and that the objective of his official visit is precisely to “accelerate the relationship”.
“I don’t know very well what ‘pause’ means, in any case my visit today what it does is to accelerate that relationship, which is nothing new, it has been accelerating for many years. Year after year there are more Spaniards in Mexico and more Mexicans in Spain, year after year there are more Spanish investments in Mexico and Mexican investments in Spain and year after year trade flows grow”, Albares told the press after meeting with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Government, Marcelo Ebrard.
Hours before the visit, Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared in his daily press conference that José Manuel Albares is “welcome” in Mexico, but reiterated that the diplomatic “pause” he announced a month ago is still in force. “Our foreign policy cannot forget what our history has been,” he declared, referring to the colonial past. “Mexico is not a land of conquest”, added López Obrador, who ruled out any “phobia” towards the Spanish people and assured that the pause “does not mean a break in relations”, but a moment to “reflect”. Likewise, he thanked for the concession of the certificate to the future ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz, whose appointment was also the cause of tensions after the Executive of Pedro Sánchez delayed for weeks the delivery of the certificate.
During a statement to the media before meeting with Ebrard, Albares highlighted the “privileged relationship” and the “brotherly, family, fraternal” relations that unite both countries and stressed that Mexico is a “strategic partner for Spain” and recalled that in the American country operate “7,000 Spanish companies that generate 300,000 jobs” and that Mexico “is already the sixth largest investor country in Spain”. For his part, Ebrard declared that Mexico maintains “close relations of affection and appreciation for the Spanish people” and highlighted Spain’s “great contribution” to his country.
As reported by the Foreign Ministry in a press release, the two ministers signed four agreements on the establishment of the bilateral Permanent Political Sub-Commission, on collaboration in Feminist Foreign Policy, on Scientific and Technical Cooperation for the financing of cooperation programs and projects, and on collaboration in the framework of the celebration of the World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.
During his presence in Mexico, Albares participated in an event at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, where he met with Mexican businessmen with investments and commercial interests in Spain; he met with the President of the Senate of the Republic, Olga Sánchez Cordero; he held a meeting with Spanish exiles at the Ateneo Español de México, intervened in an event organized by the Colegio de México, was interviewed on Milenio TV and held an event with the Spanish community, at the Embassy of Spain in Mexico.
On the other hand, the European Parliament could approve today a resolution agreed by all the political groups in which it accuses López Obrador of harassing the press “with his populist language” to “denigrate and intimidate independent journalists”, according to the text to which the newspaper ABC has had access.
