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On Monday, the Prince and Princess of Asturias inaugurated the first Spain-Mexico Forum at the Cervantes Institute with President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala. It is meant for the leaders in economic, cultural, academic and business sectors to promote dialogue, exchange and progress between the two countries.
 Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images Europe During his opening speech, Crown Prince Felipe commented on the strong ties between Mexico and Spain, saying this forum would “enhance the cultural presence” of the two nations in the world and would “strengthen the common language,” adding that the bonds between the two lands are “indestructible” and are based on values of “peace, freedom, justice, democracy, welfare and development.”
Felipe also commented on the growing problem of organized crime in Mexico, and commended President Calderon on fighting it.”The willingness to continue working together is unbreakable. Only partners can meet the global challenges of this interdependent world, and be it climate change, the economic and financial crisis as well as combating drug trafficking and organized crime networks, Mr. President, and in this regard allow me to spend a heartfelt concern and sympathy for the difficult struggle that his country has in place.”
The Mexican President thanked the Crown Prince for his words and in his speech, agreed that the ties between his country and Spain were indeed “stronger than ever.”
Felipe and Letizia are the regent couple these days as King Juan Carlos recovers from lung surgery. He is expected to rest for another week.
Source: ¡Hola!
Denmark’s Prince Joachim and Princess Marie just completed a visit to Mexico this weekend. They arrived late on Wednesday, and spent three days in the Latin American country. The couple were there for various business and cultural events.
 AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo One of those activities was the exhibition of the costumes to the movie “The Wild Swans”, which were designed by Danish Queen Margrethe II herself. Joachim and Marie opened the display at Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City following a press conference. Afterward, they attended the premiere of the film.
On Friday March 4th, the couple went their separate ways. Prince Joachim paid a visit to the Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which included having Danish suppliers coming along with of brewing equipment. Meanwhile, his wife represented UNESCO Denmark by visiting UNESCO Casa Luis Barragan, which was just named a World Heritage Site.
In the afternoon, the pair reunited to open the horizontal position Dreams on Wheels at the Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico. The exhibition focuses on the Danish cycling culture and innovative bicycle designs, was launched in December when the U.N. Climate Change Summit took place in Copenhagen.
In the evening, the Prince and Princess went to the Anthropological Museum followed by a gala dinner.
On Saturday, the royal couple visited the Mexican pyramids in Teotihuacan and then later went to the organic public park Xochitla where they planted a tree.
 AP Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI, Pool Today the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, started his three day official visit to Japan. He was greeted by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and had lunch with the imperial couple. The point of this visit is to celebrate 400 years of bilateral ties between Japan and Mexico.
Later in the day, Calderon along with his wife Margarita Zavala, went to the opening ceremony of the special exhibition “A Testimony of the 400th Anniversary of Mexico-Japan Relations” at the Tobacco and Salt Museum in Tokyo. There, they met with Crown Prince Naruhito who spoke about the ties between the two countries.
Calderon also met with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatayama and several leaders of Japan’s biggest companies such as Mitsubishi. He encouraged the businessman t0 invest in his country.
Friday ended the state visit to Mexico for Dutch royals Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Crown Princess Maxima. Their tour was made up of honors, ancient sites, and a language gaffe.
 Reuters/Daniel Aguilar On Wednesday, the Queen was awarded the keys to Mexico City during a reception at the capital’s city hall. She and the Crown Princely couple were then given a tour of the city. They stopped by an education and cultural center at Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood.
After lunch, Queen Beatrix took a tour of the National Anthropology Museum. During this, her son gave a speech at the “Energy Efficiency and Sustainability from Producer to End-user” seminar. It was there that Willem-Alexander made a mistake using a Mexican slang. He said the phrase, “camaron que se duerme se lo lleva la chingada,” or “the shrimp that falls asleep is carried away by the current.” The problem is, the word “chingada” is a Mexican term for “prostitute.”
Mexico’s newpapers put the gaffe on their front pages. One publication, Reforma, said, “Either someone played a joke on him, or the Prince of the Netherlands wanted to make his message clear.”
 Reuters/Jorge Dan Willem-Alexander’s wife, Crown Princess Maxima, is a native Argentinian. However, that term is not used in her home country, so there was no way for her to understand what the fuss was about.
On Thursday, the Queen was informed about Mexico’s climate change at Las Yerbas training center, where young agriculturalists are trained to deal with the environmental changes. Later, Beatrix and her son and daughter-in-law went to Dolores Hidaglo to see where Father Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bells to launch Mexico’s independence. The royal trio then visited the home of Diego Rivera in Guanajuato.
Friday, the last day of their trip, the Dutch royals went to Teotihuacan to see the ancient pyramids, which date to 200 BC. The day ended with a reception for the Dutch community living in Mexico.
There seems to be a lot of state and official visits in the world of royalty these days! Earlier Tuesday, Holland’s royals – Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Crown Princess Maxima – began their four day visit to Mexico. They arrived just before noon, local time, and were greeted by President Felipe Calderon and First Lady Margarita Zavala.
 AP Photo/Claudio Cruz A welcoming ceremony took place at Mexico’s National Palace. The Queen then had a private meeting with President Calderon.
After that came a wreath laying ceremony at the Child Heroes monument.
The royals then met had a meeting with Dutch business leaders looking to invest in Mexico. A visit to the Senate followed.
In the evening, there was a state banquet held in honor of the Dutch royals at the Chapultapec Castle, once the home of Emperor Maxmilian.
This state visit is to last until Friday, November 6th. I will keep you updated on the daily happenings of this trip.
Just days after saying farewell to Norway’s crown princely couple, Mexico welcomed the Belgian counterpart as Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde arrived in the Mexican capital. 
They are there for an economic mission to expand Belgian trade with the Latin American country. The mission was organized by the Agency for Foreign Trade in close collaboration with the regional foreign trade.
Crown Prince Philippe would be the one taking part in the business meetings, while Mathilde would be doing activities which would promote the image of Belgium to the Mexican people.
Their first activity was a trip to the National Anthropological Museum where they posed in front of an ancient Aztec calendar stone.
After Mexico, Crown Prince Philippe would continue the economic mission southwards to Panama. His wife would not be attending, and would instead return to Belgium.
Arriving late on Sunday, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette Marit were fresh and ready Monday morning for the start of their four day visit to Mexico. 
The royal couple first laid a wreath at the national monument of Child Heroes.
Haakon and Mette Marit then moved on the Frida Kahlo Museum, where they took a look at some of the great Mexican painter’s works.
Finally, in the afternoon, they were officialy received by President Felipe Calderon. The couple were unable to do so in the morning due to some scheduling conflicts.
Later in the afternoon, Crown Prince Haakon opened an exhibition of 120 pictures from Norwegian nature and society. The images were placed along a fence at a park near the city’s main street, where around a million people pass daily. The images were in place before the weekend, and Sunday, there were many who stopped and looked at the pictures to present Norway.
Tuesday, the Prince and Princess will attend a seminar for Mexican and Norwegian business leaders.
Wednesday, they will fly south to the city of Veracruz, where there will be more business and government meetings.
Most of these meetings have to do with oil and gas sectors.
The Prince and Princess of Asturias are on an official tour of Mexico this week. The visit is being treated as a state visit, but without the celebrations reserved for heads of state, as Crown Prince Felipe is not yet one.
Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia arrived in Mexico City yesterday morning, and were received by Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife Margarita Zavala.
They then went on a tour of the Mexican capital, until they met with the “Children of Morelia.” These are people or descendents of the people who left Spain in 1937 for Mexico during the brutal Spanish civil war.
The main reason why Felipe and Letizia are in Mexico, is to preside over the inauguaration of the Congress of the Latin-American Culture. The Congress has been created as a meeting place for directors, screenwriters and actors who seek to enhance the audiovisual industry Iberoamericana.
Since 1995, Crown Prince Felipe has represented the Spanish state in meeting with Latin American leaders. Several times since he married in May 2004, he has been accompanied by the Princess of Asturias.
This is the couple’s third trip to Mexico. The first came two months after their wedding, and the second was when Calderon was inaugurated in December 2006.
Calderon and his wife will accompany the royal couple throughout their stay until October 2nd, when they return to Spain.
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