German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier begins a three-day state visit to Spain on Wednesday.
Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender will be welcomed in Madrid by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, who will also host a state banquet in honour of their guests in the evening.
The Spanish royal couple made a state visit to Germany in October 2022.
According to Steinmeier’s office, the trip is intended to reflect the good bilateral relations between Germany and Spain. It also aims to demonstrate close solidarity between pro-European partners.
Another topic will be economic cooperation. Felipe and Steinmeier plan to open a German-Spanish economic forum together on Thursday.
Steinmeier also plans to meet with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with talks likely to focus on the war in Ukraine.
Spain has recently pledged further aid of €817 million ($944 million) to Kiev.
At the end of his visit, Steinmeier will visit the Basque Country. In addition to talks with the government of the autonomous region, he is due to visit the town of Guernica to commemorate the victims of the German bombing raid on April 26, 1937.
During the Spanish Civil War, aircraft belonging to the German “Condor Legion” bombed the small town, destroying three-quarters of it.
Estimates of the number of fatalities vary between 300 and 1,500. It was the first major bombing raid on a defenceless town’s population in European history.