Jakarta, 12 July 2022 (TDI): On July 7, the Spanish Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares; arrived in Indonesia to be part of the G20 Summit. Besides assisting the official meetings; Albares has exchanged words with several representatives of the G20 members.
Minister Albares met with Blinken from the US; Wang Yi from China; Hayashi from Japan; Ebrard from Mexico; and França from Brazil.
Albares and Blinken:
Spanish Foreign Minister, Albares and Secretary Blinken exchanged words about the recent NATO 2022 Summit in Madrid. The Summit was on 29 June and ended the next day. Both representatives also spoke about the consequences of the Russian aggression on Ukraine, and the importance of multilateralism.
Spain and the US established diplomatic relations in 1783. Currently, both are close allies with common ideologies like democracy and human rights. Both are members of NATO since the Spanish addition in 1982.
Spain and the US signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement and the Agreement on Defense Cooperation; to regulate cooperation in NATO, defense, and security relations between both.
Spain and the United States have a friendship, navigation, and commerce treaty as well as a bilateral taxation treaty. Spain maintains an embassy in Washington, DC. On the other side, the US maintains an embassy in Madrid.
Albares and Wang Yi:
Spanish Foreign Minister then held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. Albares and Yi discussed the state of bilateral relations between Spain and China, the relations with the EU, and mobility.
According to Albares, China is a key player to deal with global issues. Albares mentioned that those global issues included climate change, peace, and stability. Minister Albares then remarked on the petition made to Yi, for Chinese collaboration to end the war in Ukraine.
Spain and China established diplomatic relations in 1644. Later, Spain and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations in 1973. Currently, China has an embassy in Madrid and a consulate in Barcelona.
On the other side, Spain has an embassy in Beijing and consulates in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Albares and Hayashi:
Minister Albares then held a meeting with Yoshimasha Hayashi, his Japanese counterpart. During the meeting; Albares and Hayashi discussed the intention to promote their bilateral relations and mutual interests.
Albares reaffirmed the Spanish condemnation of the murder of the former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. The Minister also extended condolences and the Spanish solidarity for the Japanese people.
Spain and Japan established diplomatic relations in 1868, after both signed the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation. In 2018, Japan had 3,368 Spanish nationals living in the territory.
In 2017, around 8,192 Japanese were living in Spain. Regarding economic relations, Japan exported to Spain several products like transportation equipment; machinery, and electronic machinery.
Those products were worth 372.5 billion yen. On the side of the imports, Japan imported from Spain other products like food; chemicals, and transportation equipment. Those products were worth 370.4 billion yen.
Albares and Ebrard:
Albares also held a meeting with Marcelo Ebrard, his Mexican counterpart. During the meeting, Albares and Ebrard reaffirmed the deep ties between Mexico and Spain. According to Albares, Spain and Mexico are brother countries; and they will continue to work bilaterally and multilaterally.
Albares reaffirmed that their cooperation bilaterally and multilaterally is for the benefit of the Mexican and Spanish people. Ebrard and Albares also discussed the need to deepen their cooperation to guarantee peace and security for the Iberoamerican community and the world.
Spain conquered the territory that is now from Mexico in 1500. The Spanish stayed there until the declaration of independence in 1810, that became a reality 11 years later. After that, Spain established relations with the newly-independent country in 1836.
At first the relations were tense due to the history between them but improved greatly. During the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Mexico strongly supported the opposition of Franco. Three years later, Mexico decided to end the relations because Franco took power.
After the death of Franco in 1975; both countries started a re-approchment that ended in the re-establishment of relations in 1977. Since the re-establishment of the relations, both countries enjoy warm and close relations. Both countries support each other at a bilateral and multilateral level.
Albares and França:
Minister Albares then held a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Carlos França. França and Albares discussed the existing opportunities to strengthen their bilateral relations. Both Ministers also discussed the opportunities to maintain and strengthen multilateral cooperation.
Finally, Albares and França discussed how to strengthen cooperation in the Iberoamerican community to deal with the food and energetic crisis.
Brazil is one of its main partners of Spain. Currently, Brazil maintains an embassy in Madrid and a consulate in Barcelona. On the other side, Spain has an embassy in Brasilia and consulates in Porto Alegre, Río de Janeiro and Salvador de Bahía.
Brazil prefers to treat its relationship with Spain bilaterally not multilaterally. There are 150,000 Brazilians living in Spain.
Albares and Park Jin
On that day, Albares held a meeting with Park Jin; his South Korean counterpart, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Albares and Jin also discussed the state of Spain-South Korea relations.
Albares announced the project to promote cultural relations with the opening of a Cervantes Institute in the country. Jin and Albares also affirmed that both will work together to deal with global issues.
Spanish condolences for Shinzo Abe’s death:
On July 8, the former Prime Minister of Japan; Shinzo Abe died after receiving two shots in the chest. After the news of the attack was confirmed, the leaders and representatives worldwide started to send condolences to Japan; and condemn the attack.
The Spanish Foreign Minister; Albares first reaffirmed the Spanish condemnation of the attack against Shinzo. Albares then extended condolences toward the Japanese people. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, expressed commotion for the attack on Abe.
Sanchez then extended Spanish wishes for Abe and his family, and also condemned the attack. Sanchez also extended condolences to the Japanese people.
