28.10.08 - 09:42 -
King Juan Carlos (R) talks to Peru's First Lady Pilar Nores during a dinner at the Government Palace in Lima on Monday. REUTERS
Spain's King Juan Carlos and Peruvian President Alan García presided in Lima on Monday over the signing of a Strategic Association Plan that will favor the integration of Peruvian immigrants into the Spanish workforce and will boost Peru's hopes of signing a free-trade pact with the European Union.
On the first day of his third state visit to Peru, Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were received at the Plaza de Armas in Lima by Garcia and first lady Pilar Nores before their meeting at the presidential palace.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Peruvian counterpart José Antonio García Belaunde signed the agreement that makes Peru one of Spain's six strategic allies in Latin America.
Spain offered direct support to Peru's ambition to negotiate a separate free-trade agreement with the EU, not involving other countries of the Andean Community of Nations, if it turns out that a group negotiation is not feasible.
In a statement to reporters, García Belaunde expressed Peru's support of Spain's right to be present Nov. 15 at the Washington summit on the financial crisis, while Moratinos was confident of getting positive results from Madrid's move to "be heard" at that meeting.
Turning to another topic, Moratinos said that Spain will open negotiations with Peru for the signing of an agreement by which immigrants from this country will be able to vote in Spain's municipal elections.
After visiting the photography exhibition illustrating the ties between Spain and Peru organized by Agencia Efe in a busy pedestrian street beside the presidential palace, the monarchs went to the Spanish Center in Lima to greet around 1,000 invited representatives of the 15,000-strong Spanish expatriate community.
