Havana, November 12 (RHC)--Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and King Felipe VI of Spain led on Tuesday the signing of a legal instrument to promote bilateral relations.

The Agreement for the Framework of Association Country Cuba Spain 2019-2022 in Matter of International Cooperation for the Development, was penned in the Palace of the Revolution by the Foreign Ministers Bruno Rodriguez and Josep Borrell.

According to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the agreement is endowed with 57.5 million euros and includes the contribution of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), autonomous communities, NGOs, and cultural cooperation.

The new instrument renews the one signed from 2014 to 2017, for integration and dialogue for cooperation, and covers three areas: increased productivity, sustainable territorial development, and consolidation of an effective public administration.

The royal couple arrived in Havana on Monday and will carry out an extensive program in the context of Havana's 500th-anniversary celebrations, before traveling next Thursday to the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

This is the first official trip of a Spanish king to Cuba, although the former head of state, Juan Carlos I, visited Havana in 1999 to participate in that year's Ibero-American Summit; and in 2016 he did so as king emeritus for the funeral honors of the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro.

For the Spanish ambassador to Cuba, Juan Fernández, this trip brings the message of normalization of relations and recovery of affections, and he described it as positive and necessary.

In an interview with the national television, he affirmed that Cuba is probably the country in America where Spain is best understood, so it does not make sense that both nations have been without high-level visits for so long.

Cuba's Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, assured through his Twitter account that this visit is a reflection of the strong bilateral ties in all spheres.

In economic terms, the Iberian country is one of our country's main partners, both in trade and in investment and cooperation, he recalled