Queen of Spain to visit Paraguay with agenda on cooperation projects

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Queen Letizia of Spain will be in Paraguay on November 2 as part of a visit to strengthen ties between the two nations and will focus on Spain’s cooperation projects in the South American country, Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo announced Monday.

“She comes to strengthen cooperation ties not only in the economic area, but mainly in the cultural area,” Acevedo said at the Government Palace after delivering the credentials of Spain’s new ambassador Carmen Castiella to President Mario Abdo Benítez.

The Foreign Minister said that the Queen’s agenda would include a visit to the former Jesuit missions in the country’s south, where the Spanish government is developing several projects to enhance their value, as well as “specific meetings” on Spanish cooperation with First Lady Silvana Lopez.

Acevedo stressed that the Queen’s visit will precede Mario Abdo Benítez’s visit to Spain, scheduled for early 2022.

Acevedo also recalled that Spain is the largest contributor to Paraguay among European Union countries.

The Spanish government has sent Paraguay a large portion of the 1 million Covid vaccines announced by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the last Ibero-American Summit in April, out of a donation of 7 million to Latin America and the Caribbean. The last shipment reached Paraguay in late September, a total of 316,800 AstraZeneca doses, the third delivery out of a total of 1 million.

At the ceremony to receive this vaccine shipment, the new Spanish ambassador emphasized that the joint cooperation with Latin America makes the country “the first European Union donor of vaccines to the region.”

Castiella held a private meeting today with Abdo Benítez, of the conservative Partido Colorado, and with the Foreign Minister after the credentials ceremony.