Bill Clinton visits Spain

Rodriguez Zapatero and Clinton make joint statement against Climate Change and Poverty

The Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, agreed a new phase of collaboration with the Global Clinton Foundation initiative in a meeting with Bill Clinton which took place in the Moncloa Palace on Monday.

In a joint declaration to the press following their meeting which lasted an hour and a half Zapatero said that this cooperation would be ‘extraordinarily important’ although he didn’t give any figures and added that he had asked Bill Clinton for ‘help’ in mobilizing financial resources and citizens to work against the challenges of climate change and the struggle against poverty, especially in the area of education.

Zapatero described Clinton as one of the best presidents that the US had ever had and a great ex-president for his commitment on the most essential issues that confront humanity.

Clinton whose foundation has the capacity to manage a budget of around 30,000 million dollars thanked the Spanish government’s collaboration saying that ‘Spain could serve as an example’ in convincing other nations that the struggle against climate change makes economic sense.

He went on to explain that he was pleased to be working with the Spanish government which was responsible for creating 3 million jobs over the last few years and whose economy had grown by 3.8% and which had become the second largest producer of wind power and had managed to reduce its green house emissions by 4%.

Clinton said that ‘investing in development politics was worth it’ and praised Zapatero’s government for its promise to introduce a law on donating 0.7% of GDP. He also considered that Spain didn’t make empty promises when it came to UN objectives on reducing poverty and hunger by 2015.

After the meeting, Bill Clinton had lunch with King Juan Carlos in the popular Casa Lucio restaurant in Madrid