President of the Government receives President of the Republic of Paraguay

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Horacio Cartes was accompanied by a ministerial delegation made up of high-ranking officials including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for the Treasury, the Minister for Public Works and the Minister for Industry and Commerce. He was given a audience by HM. the King, who later hosted a lunch for the Paraguayan delegation at the Royal Palace.

The meeting between the President of the Government and President Cartes dealt with the priorities of bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as the main issues on the regional agenda in Latin America, particularly Paraguay's pro tempore presidency of Mercosur for the next half-year. Both agreed on the need to boost talks on the EU-Mercosur Agreement as soon as possible.

After the meeting there was an official signing of seven bilateral sectoral agreements, also at Moncloa Palace:

• Agreement on cooperation on citizen safety
• Agreement on Air Transport
• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on talent mobility
• Agreement on the conditions for executing the programme improving local roads in the eastern region of Paraguay
• Credit agreement (supplementary to the above) between the Official Credit Institute (Spanish acronym: ICO) and the Ministry of the Treasury in Paraguay
• MoU for cooperation on commercial distribution of food in Paraguay
• MoU between the Republic of Paraguay and Air Europa to establish a direct and regular air connection between Madrid and Asunción.