BARCELONA, April 18 (Reuters) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez met in Barcelona on Saturday after a summit of progressive leaders.
The meeting, reported by Spanish state news agency EFE, took place during Sheinbaum’s visit to Barcelona to attend a gathering of the global left, organized by the Spanish government.
Sheinbaum’s visit signals a thawing in the strained diplomatic relations between the countries and marks the first visit by a Mexican president to Spain since the ruling Morena party took power in 2018.
The schism stems from Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who requested an apology in 2019 for the abuses committed by colonizers during Spain’s conquest of Mexico, and did not receive it.
“I believe that President Sheinbaum’s presence here is a very important and positive sign of a rapprochement between the two countries,” Spain’s economy minister told reporters at the summit, emphasizing the importance of advancing trade and investment between the two economies, particularly in the energy, infrastructure, and financial sectors.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Additional reporting by Joan Faus and David Latona; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Louise Heavens)
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