Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá said at a press conference today, that Spain’s new Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had a short, interesting and “cordial” meeting with former US President Barack Obama in Madrid on Friday. Celaá said that it was a meeting between two people who know a lot about leading a country.

Celaá added that the meeting was between two individuals with “closed agendas,” but that Obama and Sánchez wanted to greet and talk to each other for a few minutes. As reported by El Pais in English, Sánchez did not tell the Spanish media what the power pair had spoken about.

The following day Obama headed to an art gallery with Spain's King.

Meeting at technical conference

The brief meeting between Obama and Sánchez was held at the Technological Innovation and Circular Summit, at which the former US president was a guest speaker. They reportedly spoke for only 15 minutes. Obama’s contribution to the conference was a critical one in today’s political climate and was titled, “A Conversation with Barack Obama: The impacts and challenges of climate changes in the World.”

While speaking at the conference in Spain, Obama criticized the current White House administration and how that administration has “little interest” in the subject of climate change and was known for cutting investments in science.

While he didn’t actually name Donald Trump, he did say the United States was making a “big mistake.” Obama went on to say that incidents like these cause democracy to start to be destroyed, while trust is being substituted for fear.

Former US president meets with a king

As noted by the New Indian Express, Saturday saw Obama heading off to the Reina Sofia Museum for a private meeting with Spain’s King Felipe VI.

They reportedly spent some time together discussing Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting “Guernica” and a series of paintings by surrealist Spanish painter Salvador Dalí.

While looking at Picasso’s work, which reflects the aftermath of a bombing in Guernica, Spain, King Felipe reportedly gave Obama a book on the subject, complete with a personal dedication.

Obama in Spain to enjoy time with his family

While Obama did spend two days of his trip to Madrid in conferences and meetings, the rest of the holiday is intended for him to spend time with his daughters, Malia, 19 and Sasha, 17. They have both begun their summer holidays.

It’s not the first time the former US President has visited Spain. He visited during 2016 while he was a standing president, and had also backpacked across the country when he was 26 years of age.
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