His Majesty King Don Felipe arrived in Astana, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, to participate in the inauguration ceremony of the 2017 Expo. He is accompanied by the Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, and has already had a meeting With Chinese President Xi Jinping. The King is expected to meet with other heads of state, including Russian Vladimir Putin and Uzbek Shavkat Mirziyeyev. Tomorrow Saturday will be received by the host, the head of the Kazakh State, Nursultan Nazarbáyev.
The meeting with the top Chinese leader lasted for less than an hour and is the first one he maintains with him after his proclamation as King of Spain. They met, however, in August 2008, on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Beijing, being still prince and Xi vice-president. Both were today ready to have their respective countries deepen even more in the already fruitful relationship that they have been maintaining.
Don Felipe has invited the Chinese president to visit Spain as soon as possible and recalled the EU-China summit of the day 2, in which the two sides defended the Paris agreements against climate change while the US president, Donald Trump, retired from them.
The head of the Spanish government, Mariano Rajoy, had with the Chinese president a meeting on May 13 in Beijing under the economic forum on the New Silk Road. Last year at the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, last November, during a technical stopover in Gran Canaria, Xi had talks with the Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría.
The inauguration of the Expo 2017, dedicated on this occasion to the "Energy of the future", will take place this afternoon. In addition to Dastis, the Secretary of State for Culture, Fernando Benzo, and Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros, High Commissioner of the Spain Brand, accompany the King. Before returning to Spain, Felipe VI will visit the Spanish pavilion at the Expo 2017. Astaná have already arrived or will do during the day almost twenty heads of State and Government of different countries. Also attending is the Secretary General of the UN, the Portuguese António Guterres. This international exhibition will last until September 10 and it is attended by 115 countries.
ABC Casa Real
