The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will participate from today in New York in the Ministerial Week of the LXXVII session of the United Nations General Assembly, in which he will hold a dozen bilateral meetings.
The Ministerial Week, the first in face-to-face format after two years of hybrid meetings caused by the global pandemic of Covid-19, will be marked by the war in Ukraine and the economic, food and humanitarian crises resulting from it.
As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release, Albares will hold more than a dozen bilateral meetings with counterparts from around the world, including a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In addition, the minister will meet, among others, with the foreign ministers of Argentina (Santiago Cafiero), Venezuela (Carlos Faría), Mexico (Marcelo Ebrard) and El Salvador (Alexandra Hill Tinoco), to whom he will explain the objectives of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2023, which include strengthening the European Union’s ties with Latin America.
During the Ministerial Week, the Minister will participate, accompanying the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in the meeting of the Network of Leaders for Enhanced Multilateralism, promoted by Spain together with the European Union, the United States and the African Union, which will address problems related to food security.
José Manuel Albares will also take part in the meeting of the GAP COVID platform, where he will meet again with Antony Blinken, and will participate in the plenary meeting of the XII Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, together with the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, Vladimir Voronkov, with whom he will hold a bilateral meeting.
The celebration of the UN General Assembly in 2022 will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the speech of the former President of Chile Salvador Allende at the UN, in which he denounced the interference of large multinational companies in the politics and economy of his country. On this occasion, a tribute ceremony will be held at the Cervantes Institute in New York, in which the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, will also take part, together with Pedro Sánchez, an event which the Minister will also attend.
In addition, the EU Foreign Affairs Council will hold an informal meeting in New York, which will be attended by Spain, to analyze the global economic and security situation resulting from the unjustified Russian aggression against Ukraine.
