The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday at La Moncloa Palace the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, with whom he noted the “deep personal and political harmony” that unites them, “based on the same shared values of defense of human rights, democracy, the rule of law, feminism and gender equality”.
This is the first official visit to Spain of Trudeau, who was in Madrid to participate in the NATO Summit. Besides, yesterday’s visit was the first working visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to our country in the last 20 years and, coincidentally, the bilateral meeting took place 40 years after the official visit to Spain of the then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, father of the current Prime Minister. In fact, Pierre Trudeau visited Spain in June 1982 when he was on his way to Bonn to participate, precisely, in a NATO Summit. During that stay in Madrid, Trudeau Sr. took the opportunity to congratulate the government of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo on Spain’s recent entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
During yesterday’s meeting – the eighth between the two leaders – Sánchez and Trudeau signed a joint declaration (updating the Canada-Spain Cooperation Agenda Declaration, adopted in Montreal in 2018) in which they reaffirmed their defense of the international order based on respect for the rules, expressed their determination to “protect democracy and the rule of law,” reaffirmed their “commitment to NATO,” condemned in “the deepest terms Russia’s unjustifiable aggression against Ukraine” and urged Russia to withdraw its forces from this country.
The declaration also stated that the climate emergency is “the most important challenge of our era”, assured that the two countries are “determined” to accelerate their action in this field through investments in renewable energy and clean technologies, and called for the intensification of Global Climate Action to “achieve a halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with the goal of reaching net zero by 2050”. The text also defends the need to protect the “welfare” of the population “in the face of the threat of economic instability and inflation” and announces the commitment of Spain and Canada to exchange best practices in the “community sponsorship of refugees”. The declaration also highlights “the growing importance that the Spanish language is acquiring in Canada” and notes the mutual interest in deepening shared cultural initiatives and in establishing stronger links between researchers, professors and students.
“We are allies, strategic partners, friends, we are united by links of all kinds: historical, institutional, commercial, investment, and also personal. We are also united by a shared vision of the world,” said Pedro Sánchez during a joint press appearance, without questions, with Justin Trudeau. “Spain and Canada are among the proud few countries that have a feminist foreign policy that is already bearing fruit,” continued the head of the Executive, who also recalled the cooperation in security and defense, specifically in the NATO mission in Latvia (currently led by Canada), and called on Canadian companies to invest in Spain, taking advantage of European funds for economic recovery. “Count on Spain, we are a solid ally, a friend, and we are ready to work for a more modern, peaceful and inclusive world,” he added addressing Trudeau.
For his part, the Canadian prime minister thanked the Spanish people for the “successful Summit” of NATO, also highlighted the “shared values” on climate change, the rights of girls and women and the fight against inequality through its “feminist foreign policy”, and said that Canada and Spain “are strong voices in the defense of democracy” and that it is “good for everyone” that there are “progressive voices that defend democracy and the fight against totalitarianism, violence and human rights violations”. “It has been fun working with you, my friend,” he added, addressing Pedro Sánchez.
