Less than a week before the start of the NATO summit in Madrid, the Government of Pedro Sánchez has not yet confirmed whether the Spanish president will take advantage of this appointment to hold a bilateral meeting with his North American counterpart, Joe Biden.
The foreign and defense ministers, José Manuel Albares and Margarita Robles, who have appeared in La Moncloa to explain some details of the meeting, which will bring together dozens of world leaders in the capital on the 29th, have been asking about this possibility on Wednesday. and 30, although some will start arriving even earlier.
Albares has not confirmed whether that meeting will take place sometime next week between Sánchez and Biden, either in La Moncloa or at the summit itself.
The Foreign Minister has dispatched the matter stating that, if that bilateral meeting takes place, it will be known in due course.
What it has cleared up is the unknowns about other of the great protagonists of this summit, such as the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelensky, in the midst of his country’s war against Putin’s Russia. Zelensky even considered the possibility of going to Madrid in person, but Albares has explained that he will finally participate by videoconference during a summit session that will be dedicated exclusively to Ukraine, which will also have his corresponding delegation.
More than 5,000 people will participate in the summit, including journalists and representatives of 44 international delegations, all but three led by their respective heads of state or government. Among them, the 30 members of NATO and others that choose to be, such as Finland and Sweden. Also the other four European countries that are not part of the Atlantic Alliance (Austria, Malta, Cyprus and Ireland). And others that are interesting for NATO for different geostrategic reasons, such as Mauritania in Africa, Jordan in the Middle East, Bosnia and Georgia in Eastern Europe or Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea in Asia.
Albares and Robles have advanced that this summit will address a new strategic security concept, with special attention to Eastern Europe due to the Russian threat and the war in Ukraine. But they have insisted on emphasizing that a lot of attention will also be devoted to threats from Africa, both because of the famine that is going through a large part of the continent and because of illegal immigration or energy flows, in addition to Russian influence and the expansion of the jihadist terrorism.
Last week, sources from the Interior and the Presidency already advanced some keys to this event, which will affect the normality of Madrid and the people of Madrid, especially for those who travel during those days to the eastern part of the city, since the summit It will be held at the Ifema fairgrounds. There will also be restrictions in other areas due to the different events and visits that will take place in central places such as the Prado and Reina Sofía museums or the Royal Theater, among others.
