The Diplomat
The State Secretary for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Juan Fernández Trigo, held bilateral consultations this week with his counterparts from Guatemala and the Dominican Republic to strengthen historical, social, economic, academic and cultural ties with both countries.
Last Tuesday, the State Secretary chaired the mechanism of bilateral political consultations with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Shirley Dennise Aguilar. “Relations are excellent and we want to strengthen economic, cultural, academic, scientific and cooperation ties,” stated Fernández Trigo through his official Twitter account. According to the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry, both governments agreed “to support multilateralism as a mechanism to seek solutions to global problems”.
The State Secretary was also received by the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Mario Búcaro. “In the framework of the II Meeting of the Guatemala-Spain Political Consultation Mechanism, Foreign Minister Mario Búcaro held a meeting with State Secretary Juan Fernández Trigo in which they renewed their commitment to continue working on issues of common interest,” stated the Embassy of Guatemala in Madrid through the same social network.
Likewise, Fernández Trigo met in Guatemala with different sectors of social, economic and political life “to learn first-hand about their perceptions of the country’s reality”, and held meetings with prominent representatives of Guatemalan civil society and ambassadors of the G-13 member countries, “a forum that plays a key role in coordinating cooperation with other partners, and which acts transparently and without any desire to interfere”.
The G13 Donors Group is a coordinating body between countries, bilateral and multilateral agencies, made up of the nine countries that allocate the most cooperation resources to Guatemala: Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as multilateral organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations System (UNS), the Delegation of the European Union (EU) and the Organization of American States (OAS).
Dominican Republic
On Thursday, Juan Fernández Trigo went to the Dominican Republic, where he chaired the bilateral consultation mechanism with the Vice Minister for Bilateral Affairs, José Julio Gómez. “We have agreed to continue boosting the excellent relations based on the strong historical, social and economic ties,” he stated through the aforementioned social network.
The State Secretary also inaugurated, together with the Dominican Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Franklin García Fermín, the conference Situation and perspectives of Spanish-Dominican inter-university cooperation: the scholarship program of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and Spain. “Cooperation in education has benefited more than 16,000 Dominican students who have been able to study in Spanish universities over the last two decades,” he said.
Fernández Trigo also met with representatives of Spanish companies in the Caribbean country. “We are proud to be the Dominican Republic’s first European trading partner,” he stated. He also held a conversation with some intellectuals and opinion leaders to learn first-hand about their vision of the country and the relations between the Dominican Republic and Spain. “Both countries share an intense historical and symbolic relationship,” he added.
