U.S. President Joe Biden will welcome Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to the White House on May 12, with whom he plans to discuss the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis and Latin America.
“I am pleased to announce that President Biden will welcome at the White House the President (of the Government) of Spain Pedro Sanchez on Friday, May 12 in order to deepen the historic ties between the United States and Spain,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre announced Wednesday at a press conference.
According to the spokeswoman, the two leaders will discuss their “unwavering support” for Ukraine and Spain’s efforts as part of the European Union (EU), the United States and other countries to impose “costs” on Russia for the “brutal” invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.
Also on the table will be security cooperation within the NATO framework and initiatives to advance the economic prosperity of the two nations, Jean-Pierre said, noting that one of the objectives of the meeting will be to strengthen the bilateral defense relationship.
“The two leaders will assess our efforts as NATO allies and close allies to strengthen our bilateral defense relationship,” the spokeswoman said.
On the other hand, Biden and Sanchez will “coordinate” on a wide range of issues, such as the climate crisis and cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, taking advantage of the fact that Spain will assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in July for six months.
Biden and Sánchez have coincided in several international forums in recent months, such as the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022 and the United Nations General Assembly, which was held last September.
Their last bilateral meeting was in Madrid in June 2022 on the margins of the NATO summit.