Sánchez and Starmer convene in London for fortifying bilateral ties post Gibraltar accord agreement

In a significant development, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Wednesday. This marks the first institutional meeting between the two leaders since the UK's exit from the European Union in 2020.

The meeting, held at Downing Street, aimed to strengthen the bilateral relations between Spain and the UK. The agenda for the discussion included commercial issues, as well as potential topics like the situations in Ukraine and Gaza, or migration. Businesspeople and the Ministers of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo and Rachel Reeves, were also present to participate in the meeting.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the agreement reached in June on Gibraltar. The agreement intends to remove physical barriers and controls on people and goods at the land border crossing to access Gibraltar. This is a significant step towards easing travel and trade between Spain and the British enclave in southern Spain, which sees around 15,000 people cross its land border daily, mostly for work.

The meeting follows the pact of June 11 in Brussels, where it was agreed that all physical controls in Gibraltar will be carried out at the enclave's port and airport, not at its land border. The exact date of the meeting is not specified, but it is known that it occurred on a Wednesday.

It is important to note that the functionality for this service is only accessible to registered users or subscribers, depending on the nature of the service under discussion, which is not specified in the text. The meeting was also represented by Carlos Cuerpo and Rachel Reeves, who were present on behalf of the International Labour Organization (ILO) during the 2022 negotiations with Pedro Sánchez and Keir Starmer.

This meeting marks a significant step forward in the relations between Spain and the UK, and it is hoped that it will lead to further cooperation and understanding between the two countries.

Sánchez and Starmer convene in London for fortifying bilateral ties post Gibraltar accord agreement