The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, received yesterday at the Palacio de Viana in Madrid his Belgian counterpart, Hadja Lahbib, with whom he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by which Spain will be a guest country at the Europalia 2025 festival, one of the most important cultural events in Europe.
“Excellent meeting with my Belgian counterpart, Hadja Lahbib, to strengthen our bilateral relations, including cultural ones,” Albares stated through his official Twitter account. “Spain will be guest country of the Europalia 2025 festival,” he continued. “We also addressed our consecutive EU Presidencies and major global issues,” he added.
“Excellent meeting with my counterpart José Manuel Albares in Madrid,” the Belgian minister declared, for her part, through the same social network. “Exchange on our bilateral relations and the EU Trio Presidency,” she continued. “We also discussed Ukraine and shared our concerns about the situation in the Sahel and the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), she added.
“With the signing of the MoU, Spain confirms its commitment to participate in the Europalia 2025 festival,” Lahbid stressed. “Belgium looks forward to immersing itself in Spain’s rich culture and celebrating through art and culture the many ties that bind our two countries,” she concluded.
The Europalia festival has been held every two years, since 1969, in Brussels. The event presents in each edition a multidisciplinary artistic program (visual arts, theater, dance, performance, film, music, literature and debates) around a theme or a country. In 2023, the guest country is Georgia. For Spain, this will be the second time it participates as a guest country, as it also had that honor in 1985. The festival lasts about four months and, although it is always held in Brussels, other countries, such as Germany, France, the Netherlands or Luxembourg, have also participated on occasions.
On the other hand, Hadja Lahbib was also received yesterday in Madrid by the State Secretary for Trade, Xiana Méndez, with whom she reviewed “the European trade agenda” and reiterated “the importance of diversifying our trade associations”, according to the Belgian minister via Twitter.
