The Diplomat
His Majesty the King yesterday hosted a lunch at the Zarzuela Palace for Ecuador’s President-elect Daniel Noboa, who is on a private visit to Spain, just under a month before taking office.
Noboa arrived in Madrid from Italy, from where he spoke by telephone with the acting Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who reportedly reiterated Spain’s support for the EU to exempt Ecuadorians from visas for short-stay trips within the Schengen area of European free movement.
With Don Felipe, who received him on the steps of the Zarzuela Palace with a “welcome, President-elect”, Noboa analysed the state of bilateral relations and other matters of regional interest. He also told the King that he hoped he would be present at his inauguration, as he did with the current Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, and as he has done with other presidents in Latin America.
Although the King’s presence at Noboa’s inauguration has not been officially announced by the Spanish government, it is highly likely that it will take place. In principle, it seems that the date will be 1 December, when the new president will take over from Lasso until May 2025.
Noboa, 35, who won the second round of the presidential elections on 15 October, also held a breakfast yesterday morning with businessmen and members of the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI). Before them, aware that Ecuador is experiencing a very serious security crisis, he assured them that his government programme would focus on “reducing violence and unemployment” and “creating jobs”.
After the breakfast, Noboa travelled to the Autonomous Community of Madrid, where the President, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, presented him with the region’s International Medal.
In his speech, the president-elect thanked the “people of Madrid” for the recognition and stressed that it is “extremely important and a priority to work with communities that have treated Ecuadorians well” outside the country. “It is essential to maintain those ties, to have empathy in order to understand why many people left a country in search of better days and settled elsewhere,” he said.
Noboa’s agenda also included a meeting with the president of the Spanish professional football league, Javier Tebas, to advance the promotion of the sport in the Andean country and the creation of 750 football schools.
At the meeting, which was also attended by the president of the Ecuadorian competition La Liga Pro, Miguel Ángel Loor, a memorandum of understanding was signed, laying the foundations for a future agreement. This agreement will aim to promote inter-institutional cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Ecuado, LALIGA and LigaPro in order to strengthen the development of football and professional sporrt in the territory of the Republic of Ecuador.
This future agreement will be inspired, as LaLiga explained, by the agreement it has with the Republic of El Salvador for the development of socio-educational spaces, specifically for the creation of 262 socio-sports schools throughout the country, with the aim of promoting inclusion, participation, entrepreneurship, employment and the prevention of violence among children and young people through education in values and the practice of sport.
Noboa closed his day in Madrid with a meeting with a group of Ecuadorians living in Spain, who told him about their experiences and needs in the country.
