Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, assured yesterday the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, that Spain is making “all its efforts” so that the EU-Chile Modernized Association Agreement can be closed during the current Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. For his part, the Chilean president praised Sánchez’s “leadership” in strengthening relations between Spain and Latin America.
Boric arrived yesterday in Spain as part of his first tour of Europe, which also includes Belgium, Switzerland and France and which is focused on the EU-CELAC Summit and on attracting foreign investment to Chile. The President is accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Van Klaveren; the Minister of Science, Aisén Etcheverry; the Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow; and the Minister of Economy, Nicolás Grau.
As the first stage of the visit, Boric was received at the Moncloa Palace by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. “Chile is one of the six countries with which Spain has a strategic relationship in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we must follow that path” because “we are two brotherly countries, with governments that share affinity and a vision of how to face the global challenges that the world has”, said the chief executive at the joint press conference (without questions) following the meeting.
“We share the will to work together to give a decisive boost to that relationship, which has to be much closer, between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean during the period of Spain’s rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union” and, therefore, the next EU-CELAC Summit, to be held next week in Brussels, “will be a turning point for the better in the relations between both regions,” he added. “That is why I want to thank the Chilean president for the great effort he is making to attend this EU Summit,” he added.
Sánchez and Boric also spoke about the pending trade agreements between the EU and Latin America and, in this regard, the President of the Government assured the Chilean leader that Spain is “putting all its efforts” into ensuring that the EU-Chile Modernized Association Agreement is closed during the current Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU because, he added, its implementation would translate into “more prosperity” for citizens.
Likewise, Sánchez and Boric addressed the economic relations between the EU and Chile, with special attention to cooperation in the development of raw materials such as lithium or the promotion of joint green hydrogen projects, “two sectors of enormous importance that mutually reinforce each other, since they contribute to the economic development of Chile and to the open strategic autonomy of the European Union”, according to the Chief Executive. In this sense, Sánchez conveyed to Boric “the desire that Spain can participate in all these areas of collaboration by offering technical assistance, the experience we have accumulated from the regulatory point of view and, logically, also the interest of Spanish companies that are at the forefront and a reference in these areas”.
During the meeting, global issues were also addressed, such as “this imperialist drift of Russia with the invasion in Ukraine”, Pedro Sánchez continued. “I want, at this point, to sincerely thank Boric, the President of Chile, for his involvement in this issue, his permanent commitment to peace, his permanent commitment to democracy, to freedom and to the defense of the principles of the United Nations, which is what we all want,” he stated. “Spain and Chile share the same vision on the conflict” and, therefore, “we will work together in international forums to defend peace”, he said.
For his part, Gabriel Boric assured that “under the leadership of Pedro Sánchez, relations between Europe and Latin America have deepened, and that is very good news” in a world “where democracy, the universal value of human rights and respect for international law are at risk, as we have seen with regard to Russia’s illegitimate invasion of Ukraine”. Likewise, he warned that the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council “is fundamental to accelerate the implementation of the Association Modernization Agreement that our country has with the European Union”.
Signing of agreements
During the meeting, the two governments signed an agreement to relaunch political consultations between the two countries and three other agreements, namely a memorandum of understanding on cybersecurity, an international agreement on film, audiovisual and cultural production and a protocol of cooperation between the Secretariat of State for Democratic Memory of Spain and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile.
Regarding the possible controversies that could be generated by the presence in Spain of Gabriel Boric, ideologically very close to the current government of Pedro Sánchez, in the middle of the Spanish election campaign, the Chilean Foreign Minister, Alberto Van Klaveren, said upon his arrival in Madrid that “relations are always between States and, obviously, Chile does not intervene in the internal politics of the different countries”. “This visit is programmed well in advance and both Chile and Spain hoped that it could take place in the scheduled time”, he continued.
After the meeting at La Moncloa, Gabriel Boric was received by King Felipe VI at the Zarzuela Palace. The meeting, in which the Chilean leader did not wear a tie but did wear a special suit for the occasion, is the first since the misunderstanding that occurred during Boric’s inauguration in 2022, when he described as “unacceptable” that the ceremony had been delayed because the Monarch had arrived late. Subsequently, the Chilean Government apologized for these statements, stating that the President had been misinformed about what had happened and that the King had followed Chile’s protocol and security instructions at all times in order to gain access to the National Congress, where the ceremony was taking place. The two countries put the incident to rest with these explanations.
Business meeting
In the afternoon, Boric participated in the Spain-Chile Business Meeting, organized by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), the Secretary of State for Trade, through ICEX Spain Export and Investment, and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Embassy of Chile in Spain.
During the event, in which more than 200 businessmen participated, Gabriel Boric had words of praise for Spain, “the country that has once again pushed Europe to look at Latin America”, and assured that his government offers investors “legal security, regulatory stability, quality of the rules and a sense of State”. He also stated that Chile is a country with unique opportunities for development and highlighted, in relation to the decarbonization of the economy, the great development of green hydrogen in Chile, with express mention of the European fund of more than 200 million for the development of green hydrogen, and the importance of lithium, a strategic mineral of which Chile has the main reserves in the world. “Chile is synonymous with clean energy,” he declared.
For her part, the third vice-president and minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, assured that “Chile is for Spain a partner and ally of the first level”; the first vice-president of CEOE, Miguel Garrido, affirmed that “Chile is synonymous with growth and opportunities” and a country “that has been able to offer companies the conditions of confidence necessary to invest” and the president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, highlighted the importance of the ratification of the free trade agreement between the EU and Chile, which modernizes the 2003 agreement and which will eliminate tariffs by almost 100% and will include provisions to work for gender equality and respect for the environment.
