Mr. Angel Lossada, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Paid a Courtesy Call on Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan

November 12, 2008

On the occasion of the State Visit of His Majesty Juan Carlos I the King of Kingdom of Spain and Her Majesty the Queen Sofia to Japan from 9 to 14 November, 2008, Mr. Hirofurmi Nakasone, Minister for Foreign Affairs, received a courtesy call from Mr. Ángel Lossada, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain on November 12 (Wed). While confirming the current status of Japan-Spain relations, Mr. Lossada and Mr. Nakasone exchanged views on future prospects as well. The gist of their talks is as follows.

1. Political Relations

(1) They highly valued the long history of friendship which has united the two countries for more than 450 years.

(2) They confirmed the close and favorable bilateral relations symbolized by H.I.H. the Crown Prince’s visit to Spain and T.R.H. King and Queen of Spain’s State visit to Japan this year.

(3) They praised the steady implementation of political consultations based on a Memorandum on Political Consultations signed in May of last year between the Foreign Ministers of both countries.

(4) Being respectively the second and the eighth largest economies in the world they agreed to further strengthen their amicable bilateral relationship based on such shared fundamental values as democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.

2. Economic Relations

They welcomed the signing of the Agreement between Japan and Spain on Social Security. They welcome the recent developments in trade and investment between the two countries and agreed that, given the economic scale of both countries, there still existed room for further expansion.

3. Cultural Relations

Mr. Nakasone welcomed the formal opening of the center in Tokyo of the Istituto Cervantes. Both sides pledged to further strengthen cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

4. Financial Crisis

They agreed to exchange views on the current global financial crisis and continue to coordinate concerning it.

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