King Felipe VI will travel to Canada next week, accompanied by the First Vice President of the Government, Carlos Cuerpo, on an institutional trip that has a predominantly economic focus and in which both countries will sign a memorandum of understanding to promote scientific collaboration.
The visit aims to consolidate the strategy of rapprochement with Canada that has been promoted in recent years and strengthen bilateral ties in an international environment marked by trade tensions driven by the policies of the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The memorandum of understanding will be signed by the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation of Canada, Evan Solomon, and the First Vice President of the Spanish Government, Carlos Cuerpo.
The agreement, which will be signed during the economic forum that will take place at the Mars Discovery District in Toronto, aims to promote economic and scientific collaboration, with special attention to artificial intelligence in productive applications.
Don Felipe and Carlos Cuerpo will travel accompanied by a large delegation of businesspeople—representing companies such as Indra, Multiverse, and Cohere, among others—who will participate in the forum, during which several business agreements are expected to be finalized.
The trip is seen as a opportunity for Spain to integrate into the coalitions that Canada is building with middle powers, in order to reduce its dependence on the United States. Since 2017, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union and Canada has been a fundamental pillar in the increase of these relations. Although trade between Canada and Spain is moderate, with an annual exchange of about 7 billion euros, the Spanish Government has set the goal of doubling this figure in the coming years.
King Felipe VI, on the other hand, will participate on Wednesday in the presentation of the III International Joan Margarit Poetry Prize to Margaret Atwood, at an event at Victoria University in Toronto that will feature the participation of the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero. Finally, he will visit Lakefield College School in Ontario, where a center will be inaugurated in his honor.
