President defends innovation, renewables, social cohesion and more trade ambition to strengthen European resilience

Tirana (Albania)

Group photo of the summit participants

The meeting, aimed at the political coordination among countries and multilateral organisations across the continent in the face of common challenges, brought together 46 delegations led by heads of state or government, as well as the President of the European Council, the President of the Commission, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the Secretaries General of the Council of Europe, NATO and the OSCE.

The president took part in the opening plenary and the high-level round table on the challenge of competitiveness. At the forum, Pedro Sánchez advocated boosting innovation and improving European resilience by acting along four lines: investing in R&D research, especially in AI; investing in renewable energies to reduce dependence on external powers; boosting social cohesion, and increasing commercial ambition to strengthen and diversify European supply chains.

Joint Statement on Gaza

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, and the leaders of Malta, Slovenia, and Luxembourg during the meeting to address the situation in Gaza | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

Spain also organised a meeting on the margins of the summit to address the extreme humanitarian emergency in Gaza with the continent's leaders. At the meeting, which was attended by the heads of government of Iceland, Norway, Malta, Slovenia and Luxembourg, the text of a joint declaration was agreed and signed by the leaders of these countries and Ireland, demanding an end to the Israeli blockade and the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The president also explained to his counterparts the content of the draft resolution before the UN General Assembly promoted by Spain and Palestine along the same lines as the declaration, and encouraged them to support progress in the implementation of the two-state solution, for which he stressed the importance of two upcoming milestones: the ministerial meeting of the Madrid Group to be held next week in the Spanish capital, and the peace conference scheduled for June in New York.

Bilateral meetings

The president also held a number of bilateral meetings with the other leaders taking part. First, he held a meeting with the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, whom he congratulated on his recent election victory and with whom he analysed the process of Albania's accession to the EU. He then met with Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, with whom he particularly discussed European security and defence issues.

In the afternoon, the President of the Government met with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Siliņa, with whom he discussed education and the teaching of Spanish, followed by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, with whom he discussed competitiveness and business cooperation.

Non official translation