On 6 October 2022, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andris Pelšs, welcomed an accreditation visit from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Spain, Manuel Alhama Orenes.
In the conversation, Andris Pelšs spoke highly of the bilateral relations between Latvia and Spain, as well as expressing thanks for Spain’s active engagement in the NATO enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup in Latvia and the Baltic Air Policing mission.
The State Secretary noted that opportunities should be considered to deepen economic cooperation in the fields with high value added, for instance, information and communication technologies and machine translation services. In the context of cooperation in education and culture, Andris Pelšs outlined prospects for expanding the learning of the Spanish language in Latvia and called for promoting that during the new Ambassador’s tenure.
Manuel Alhama Orenes began his career with the Spanish diplomatic service in 2004. Since then, he has been posted to Haiti, Luxembourg and Geneva, as well as serving as Deputy Director for foreign affairs and immigration at the Ministry of the Interior.