After more than two years of hiatus due to the pandemic, Iñigo Urkullu is preparing to resume his international agenda. At the end of May, the Lehendakari will make an official trip to Corsica, which the Basque Country places in its network of strategic relations and with which it signed a memorandum of cooperation in 2020. The head of the regional Executive comes with the intention of “strengthening relations” with the French island, for which it will meet with some of its institutional leaders and hold meetings with representatives from the business, cultural and linguistic policy sectors.
With the respite that the covid has been granting, at least in terms of hospital occupation, the Basque Government considers that “this is the moment” to resume trips abroad, according to what the spokesman, Bingen Zupiria, indicated on Tuesday. And in that agenda postponed for health reasons, Corsica occupied a preferential place. And it is that the cooperation agreement had to be signed electronically in full confinement, for which the Lehendakari promised to visit the French island as soon as circumstances permitted to seal the understanding in person.
The official delegation of the Basque Government will also be made up of the Secretary General for Foreign Action, Marian Elorza, and the Director of European Affairs, Mikel Anton. Together with them, the Lehendakari will travel to French soil on May 29 to begin his agenda the day after. On Monday the 30th he will meet with the president of the Executive Council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, with the president of the Assembly, Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, as well as with elected representatives to whom he will explain the Basque self-government model. That is where the most political part of the visit will come to an end to begin the one related to business and culture.
On the afternoon of Monday the 30th, the nationalist president will visit the Myrte and PagliaOrba renewable energy research and innovation platforms, in the town of Vignola. Already the next day, Tuesday June 1, he will have the last appointments of the trip to French soil. Specifically, during that day he will visit the Andria Fazi school and will leave for the city of Corté, where he will visit the Museum of Corsica and also the University of Corsica. There he will have the opportunity to “exchange government experiences in matters of culture, language and heritage.”
Upon return, the Basque Government intends to continue with the agenda of trips abroad. One of the first commitments to be addressed will be, also in French territory, the inauguration of the Euskadi delegation in Paris, which is expected to open its doors before the end of the year. Zupiria has reported that Lehendakaritza is currently in the “search and acquisition” phase of the headquarters in the French capital. «We would like to find a suitable place, be able to prepare it and inaugurate it this year. If so, the Lehendakari has the foresight to come and inaugurate the headquarters », he stated.
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