The mission by Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General Giampiero Massolo to Madrid today was aimed at implementing the strengthening of bilateral dialogue between Italy and Spain outlined in Rome in late February by Spain’s head of government Mariano Rajoy and Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Massolo held meetings in the Spanish capital with Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Gonzalo de Benito Secades and diplomatic and national security advisor to Rajoy, Ildefonso Castro Lopez, dedicated mainly to the Arab spring, the crisis in Syria, relations with Iran and the regions where the two nations’ military contingents are jointly deployed – Lebanon and Afghanistan.
Italian Under-Secretary Marta Dassù is expected in Madrid on Thursday, and in the coming weeks bilateral meetings are planned between Ministers for Labour Fatima Banez and Elsa Fornero, for Defence Pedro Moranes and Giampaolo di Paola and for Agriculture Miguel Arias Canete and Mario Catania. Minister for Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi and his Spanish colleague José Manuel Garcia-Margallo have already had various contacts.
