King Felipe and Queen Letizia talked to Japanese Emperor about COVID-19 before attending a few online meetings with various authorities around the Country. The Royal Couple spoke with the Emperor of Japan Naruhito to discuss the response of both countries to COVID-19, solidarity and international collaboration on the global exit for the pandemic.
Then Queen Letizia attended a video conference with the president of Full Inclusion Spain, Santiago López Noguera. They talked about the serious impact of COVID-19 on the different groups: Babies and younger children are not receiving early care treatments; People with great support needs and their families need continuous professional staff for daily care and, at this moment, they have lost most services and are living in extreme situations at home; in the residences and flats there is also a critical situation due to lack of EPIS, test.
Full inclusion is the organization that represents people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in Spain. For more than 50 years, it has contributed to the full inclusion of these people and their families in society. It is made up of 17 autonomous federations (plus Ceuta and Melilla) and almost 900 associations throughout Spain.
Next Letizia joined King Felipe for a video conference with the heads of the Spanish Food Bank Federation. The management team of the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (FESBAL) informed the royal couple about the current coronavirus crisis and the first official data on people who have entered ERTES or lost their jobs in March, and that there will be many more in the month of April, raising fears that a large number of people will fall into a situation of severe poverty and therefore that they will be forced to receive such food aid as those managed by the Food Banks.
The calculations of this organization are that at least 1.5 million people could probably depend on Food Banks for food. The Spanish Federation of Food Banks (FESBAL), is a non-profit association that contributes, in the field of social volunteering, to recover the food surpluses of our society and redistribute them through charities among the neediest people.
Next, the royal couple held a virtual meeting with the president of the Valencia Port Authority (APV), Aurelio Martínez Estévez and with the head of the Cabinet of the Valencia Port Authority, Marta Villalonga. The heads of the Port of Valencia (ValenciaPort) informed about them that all port services are working one hundred per cent for the supply of citizens.
The president of the APV has pointed out to Don Felipe and Doña Letizia that 70% of what Spain does not produce and has to import does so through ports. These days, with the COVID-19, the critical role that they are playing in guaranteeing the essential products to supply our markets or bring these supplies to the island communities, which have experienced spectacular growth in traffic, is observed.
All port services (stowage, towing, mooring, pilots, transport, port police, etc.) are considered essential services in Spain. In recent weeks there has been a notable increase in the traffic of merchandise in the agri-food sector and hygiene products; while the traffic of the products of the industrial sectors slows down (chemical, iron and steel, wood, etc.).
For the day, Queen once again opted for simple black blazer suit teamed up with a grey top. She was wearing small gold studs and her Karen Hallam ring.
