Spain’s Queen Sofia on a 4-day visit to Philippines

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Queen of Spain will be visiting the Philippines to check on the country’s development cooperation projects being funded by the Spanish government, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Wednesday.

“The upcoming visit of Queen Sofia is a reaffirmation of Spain’s commitment towards addressing the myriad developments and challenges the Philippines and the rest of the world are facing today,” the DFA said in a statement.

It said the Queen was set to arrive on Manila on July 2 to “personally inspect” various development cooperation projects that are being implemented with funding assistance from Spain through its agency, Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo or Aecid.

Last year, the Philippines got a total of 28.9 million Euros in grants and loans from the Spanish government’s official development assistance. The projects were allotted for the areas of democratic governance and citizen’s participation, basic social needs, environment, and prevention of conflict and peace-building, among others.

Spain also ranked as the country’s 28th largest trading partner last year with a total bilateral trade amounting to $329.6 million.

The Queen would visit Aecid-assisted projects in Manila and the provinces, and would meet the respective officials of implementing agencies and beneficiary sectors. She would also be visiting the National Library, the National Museum and the University of Santo Tomas.

President Benigno Aquino III would also grace the Queen with a private audience in the Palace, which would be followed by a banquet in honor of her and her delegation.

The delegation would include the Spain’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Jesus Gracia Aldaz, Chief of Secretariat of the Royal Household of Her Majesty General Jose Cabrera Garcia, and other high-ranking officials from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.