Lula will shortly visit Spain

Less than a year after a private visit, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will return to Spain at the end of this month, now as President of Brazil, official sources announced here.
 
Lula da Silva will be in Madrid on April 25 and 26, after a stay in Portugal, where he will attend the celebrations of the 49th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution.

King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will be the main hosts of the Brazilian leader, who seeks to consolidate ties with Spain, the second country with the largest investments in the South American giant after the United States.

Invited by His Majesty, Felipe VI will offer him a lunch at the Royal Palace in Madrid before signing several agreements focused on the advancement of bilateral ties.

He will meet with Sánchez at the Moncloa Palace to discuss, among other matters, a possible agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), which will be headed by Spain as of July 1.

Also on the table will be issues of global interest, such as the conflict in Ukraine, and the future role of Madrid at the head of the EU, on the eve of a summit with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Brussels on July 17 and 18.

It is not ruled out that Lula da Silva will also meet with Second Vice-President and Minister of Labor Yolanda Diaz, with whom he has a close friendship. The two met in Madrid last year and during the inauguration of the Brazilian head of state on January 1.