The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday held his first telephone conversation with the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, in the course of which both undertook to prepare a future visit of the head of Spanish diplomacy to Washington “as soon as possible”.
During the call, the two heads of diplomacy addressed the state of bilateral relations between “two close allies” and the need to “defend the fundamental values we share in an international context that is more complicated than in decades,” the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. “The United States is a fundamental ally in the defense of the values we share”, Albares stated.
Albares also expressed his satisfaction with the proposed appointment of the new U.S. Ambassador to Madrid, Dominican-born lawyer Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón (the first woman to head the Embassy), and expressed his hope that she would be confirmed soon and be able to begin her duties.
Albares and Blinken also discussed the global situation and the role of the main international actors and the minister congratulated his counterpart for the return of the United States to the Paris Agreements. They also explored points of joint collaboration on shared priorities on the global agenda and discussed mutual security issues, including a first exchange on the upcoming NATO Summit in Madrid.
During the conversation they also discussed the situation in Latin America, “a region particularly hard hit by COVID-19 in both health and economic terms”, and agreed to explore possibilities for cooperation between the two countries in the region, especially in Central America, according to Foreign Affairs. In this regard, according to the US Secretary of State, Blinken stressed to Albares “U.S. support for Cuban citizens’ rights to peaceful assembly, free speech, and democracy ” and advocated “for comprehensive negotiations leading to free and fair elections in Venezuela”. He also outlined his concerns about Nicaragua and affirmed U.S. focus on promoting “safe, orderly and humane migration”.
Speaking to the press at the Palace of Santa Cruz in Madrid, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luis Cuesta, Albares said that his conversation with Blinken was a “very cordial first contact” in which the two heads of diplomacy also spoke about the Mediterranean and the Sahel and “agreed on the number of issues and the common agenda on which we will be working in the coming months”. “We also agreed that the teams on both sides will start working so that I can pay a visit in Washington to Blinken as soon as possible”, he concluded.
Yesterday’s telephone interview took place, precisely, a few days after the trip of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the United States, which was exclusively economic in nature and in which there was no meeting with President Joe Biden. The head of the Government has not yet held any bilateral conversation, whether face-to-face, telematic or by telephone, with the American leader since he arrived at the White House last January, except for the fleeting meeting that took place in mid-June during the NATO Summit in Brussels.
On the other hand, Albares’ predecessor, Arancha González Laya, did contact Blinken on several occasions. The two held a first brief face-to-face meeting on March 23 in Brussels, in the margins of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, and since then they have had a couple of telephone conversations. In the last one, which took place last June 10, the Secretary of State conveyed to the then Minister his commitment to a migration that develops through “regular channels” and in a “safe, orderly and humane” way, words that were interpreted as a veiled criticism of Morocco’s attitude after the massive entry of migrants in Ceuta in the middle of the diplomatic dispute between Madrid and Rabat.
Morocco: Albares asks for “discretion” and less “strident headlines”
Precisely in relation to Morocco, and in the same line as González Laya, Albares defended yesterday the “discretion” to face the diplomatic crisis with the neighboring country. “Diplomacy requires, tranquility, time and discretion,” he stated in response to a question from journalists on whether he had already had any conversation with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita. “It is not about having strident headlines, but about strengthening that relationship between Spain and Morocco which, I am sure, also wants to have with us, a real strategic relationship of friendship”, he added.
