He will also have a meeting with King Juan Carlos of Spain, with the Head of State of this country, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and with the Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. “This is an opportunity to exchange ideas and move forward in the agenda. You know that with these countries (Italy and Spain), and with Europe we have and association agreement for trade moving on”, said the Foreign Secretary to the journalist in a press conference at the Casa de Nariño.

Bogotá, April 20 (SP). By the end of this month, President Álvaro Uribe Vélez will meet Pope Benedict XVI, to talk about peace and security in Colombia. The announcement was made by the Foreign Secretary, Jaime Bermúdez Merizalde, who added that the leader will also meet King Juan Carlos of Spain.

The first stop will be Spain, where President Uribe will have a meeting with the Spanish Head of State, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. He also is going to receive the Libertad Cortés de Cadiz Award, given by his effort supporting freedom and his open fight to terrorism.

For the Foreign Secretary, this is also an opportunity to reinforce the economic subjects of the agenda, due to the existing investment of Europe in Colombia.

“This is an opportunity to exchange ideas and move forward in the agenda. You know that with these countries (Italy and Spain), and with Europe we have and association agreement for trade moving on. We need to go on with that. We have a lot of investment coming from those countries to Colombia. We also need to keep moving in that way and do whatever it takes to increase mutual cooperation”, he explained.

After that, President Uribe will go to Italy to talk with Pope Benedict XVI and with the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Foreign Secretary Bermúdez said that the meeting will allow “a detailed conversation about what Colombia has been doing about peace and security and the advances in the liberation of the prisoners and the things that we expect in the future”.