Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, begins today a tour of Moldova and Poland, where he will address with the authorities of both countries the Russian aggression of Ukraine and will be able to know on the ground the situation through which Ukrainian refugees are going through.
According to Foreign Ministry sources told The Diplomat, the tour will begin in Moldova, where Albares will hold meetings at the highest level with Moldovan authorities and visit a refugee reception center in Chisinau.
Moldova is one of the countries receiving humanitarian aid sent by the Government of Spain to help with the needs of the thousands of people who have left their lives behind in Ukraine to avoid the war. The visit comes a day after the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, announced to the European Commission that Spain is willing to receive Ukrainian refugees arriving in Moldova, a country that has already taken in thousands of displaced people fleeing the Russian invasion.
Later, the minister will travel to Poland, where he plans to spend several hours touring the border area with Ukraine, where more than two million people have already crossed the border seeking refuge. At the Medyka border crossing, Mr. Albares is scheduled to meet with members of the Spanish GEO who are assisting in the security work and will hold a briefing with the Polish Border Guard.
Later, in Przemysl, the Minister plans to meet with the heads of the humanitarian organizations UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration and other Polish NGOs. Albares will also have the opportunity to visit the refugee reception center where the first aid is provided to Ukrainians crossing the border, before traveling to other destinations.
Once in Warsaw, the Foreign Minister will maintain a bilateral agenda that includes a meeting with Spanish businessmen and will meet with his Polish counterpart, Zbigniew Rau, with whom he will review issues of interest to both countries after reviewing the impact of the Russian aggression in Ukraine on Poland. The Spanish Government has so far sent two shipments of humanitarian aid to Poland, where medicines and medical supplies worth almost 400,000 euros have arrived.
