MADRID (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana Medvedeva met with King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Queen Sofia at the El-Pardo Palace on Monday.

The Russian president arrived in Madrid from the city of Bari late on Sunday after he took part in ceremonial events connected with the turnover of an architectural ensemble - the town residence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bari, to the Russian side.
An official welcome ceremony was held in the palace square. First, the two leaders exchanged brief remarks about the weather in Madrid. It is real spring here with air temperatures of ten degrees above zero in comparison with Moscow, Medvedev said with a smile.
According to official protocol, the national anthems of Russia and Spain were played in the beginning of the meeting. Then, President Medvedev and King Juan Carlos I walked past the guards of honor lined up on the occasion of the Russian president’s visit. The two leaders introduced delegations to each other present at an official welcome ceremony.
Then, the Russian president accompanied by his wife and the king and queen of Spain went onto a podium in the center of the palace square, where they were greeted by a motorcade of cyclists and guards of honor who marched by, accompanied by an orchestra. A squadron of royal guards on horseback crowned the gala march.
After a short parade in which troops from three different army units took part the Russian president had a brief conversation with King Juan Carlos I.
The Russian delegation that took part in an official welcome ceremony included Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, Vice-premiers Alexander Zhukov, Presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko and representatives of Russia’s business.
Upon completion of the ceremony the Russian president laid a wreath to a memorial in the center of Madrid to national heroes who sacrificed their life fighting for Spain.
Also Medvedev said Russia would do its utmost to promote ties with Spain, a member of both the European Union and NATO, AFP reported.
“We are planning the development of the entire spectrum of... ties with Spain and Latin America,” Medvedev said in a speech at the Casa de America cultural center in central Madrid.
“We are ready for that. It’s a very interesting direction for us.”
King Carlos said he hoped Medvedev’s first visit to Spain as Russian leader would help strengthen ties between the two nations.
“We are expecting a lot from your visit,” the king said at the forum of university heads from Russia, Spain and Latin America who gathered to discuss way to boost education and cultural cooperation.
Medvedev arrived with a business delegation expected to culminate in the signing of a strategic partnership declaration and a transit deal giving Spain the right to ship goods to Afghanistan through Russia.
In a sign that energy was expected to be high on the agenda, Igor Sechin, Russia’s influential deputy prime minister in charge of oil and gas, was accompanying Medvedev on the visit.
In an interview with top-selling Spanish daily El Pais ahead of the trip Medvedev called opposition to Russian energy giant Lukoil’s bid to buy a stake in Spain’s largest oil company Repsol “idiotic”.
Late last year Lukoil said it was interested in buying a 20 percent stake in Repsol but dropped the bid after the deal met with stiff resistance from Spain’s main opposition conservative party.
Medvedev is also expected to push the Kremlin’s security goals and promote the idea of a new security pact, a proposal he first made during a trip to Berlin last June.
The globe-trotting Russian president, who has visited almost 20 countries in Asia, North America and South America in less than a year, has made far fewer trips to Europe, especially since Russia’s war with Georgia last August.