King of Spain Felipe VI highlights relations with Ecuador on the eve of the change of command

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The King of Spain, Felipe VI, highlighted Sunday, May 23, the “magnificent” relations that his country maintains with Ecuador on the eve of the change of presidential command on Monday, when conservative Guillermo Lasso will be installed as president.

The Spanish monarch met, separately, with the outgoing president Lenín Moreno, and the president-elect, Guillermo Lasso, and expressed his wish to continue the good bilateral relationship.

Moreno received the Spanish representatives at the Carondelet Presidential Palace, located in the historical city of Quito, decorated for the occasion and where the protocol meeting was held before a dinner with which the Ecuadorian president entertained the international representatives who traveled to Ecuador to participate in the acts of transmission of the presidential command.

“MAGNIFICENT RELATIONS”

In his meeting, Felipe VI praised the occasions on which he met with Moreno in Madrid and other Ibero-American spheres and the “magnificent relations that both countries have maintained during his mandate,” Casa Real told Efe.

For his part, the Spanish head of state conveyed to his Ecuadorian counterpart that his country is always ready to cooperate with Ecuador and his hope that the good bilateral ties will continue with the new incoming administration.

Earlier, the King of Spain had a meeting with the president-elect in a hotel in Quito, in which he congratulated him on his election.

Lasso assured that one of the topics to be discussed with Felipe VI would be the situation of Ecuadorian migrants abroad, which he said would be “one of the important points of the bilateral agenda” under his government.

The monarch assured of being “delighted” and “happy” to visit the Andean country and recalled the last time he did so in 2013.

FOUR HEADS OF STATE FOR THE INVESTITURE

Four heads of state, including Felipe de Borbón, will attend Lasso’s investiture and accompany at least eight foreign ministers who arrived in Quito over the weekend.

Among the top leaders are also the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, and the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise.

This is the fifth participation of Don Felipe in the inauguration of an Ibero-American president since he has been king. In 2018 he attended that of Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in 2019 in that of Panamanian Laurentino Cortizo, and in 2020 in those of Uruguayan Luis Lacalle Pou, and Bolivian Luis Arce.

Counting his participation in this ceremony as Prince of Asturias, he has now taken part in 74.

The King is traveling accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, and will stay a little more than a day in the Andean country.

In the official Spanish plane that arrived today in Quito also traveled, the leader of the conservative Popular Party, Pablo Casado, as leader of the opposition. However, he is not part of the official delegation but is in the country as a special guest of the president-elect, who also invited the former president of the Spanish government, José María Aznar, and the Colombian Andrés Pastrana.

INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS

Their foreign ministers will also represent Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay, Guatemala, Bolivia, Argentina, and Spain at Lasso’s inauguration. At the same time, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru have designated other high-ranking officials.

The participation of the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, was also originally planned. Still, he announced his cancellation at the last minute due to the political crisis in his nation, with which Ecuador shares close ties.

Likewise, the President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, who sent Vice-President Hugo Velásquez on his behalf, also canceled his trip; and Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle, who canceled his trip today due to the sudden death of his Minister of the Interior, Jorge Larrañaga, and who will be replaced by Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo.