On the morning of November 14, 2005, Spanish King Juan Carlos held a grand ceremony in the state guesthouse to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Spain.

Upon the arrival of President Hu and his wife Madame Liu Yongqing at the ceremony, King Carlos and Queen Sofia stepped forward to shake hands with Hu and Madame Liu and extend greetings to them. The military band played the national anthems of China and Spain with 21 salutes lingering in the sky. Hu, accompanied by Carlos, inspected the honor guard of the three services of Spain. Then the two heads of state and their spouses stepped on the inspection stage and watched the march-past of the motorcycle guards, infantry and cavalry.

Following the inspection ceremony, the two heads of state held a meeting. On behalf of the Spanish people, Carlos extended the warmest welcome to Hu's visit. Hu said that China and Spain enjoy a long history of bilateral exchanges and the two peoples have friendly feeling towards each other. Over the 32 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Spain the bilateral relations have been progressing steadily and currently stand in the best historical period. Under the fluctuating international situation, both sides should build up mutual trust, expand cooperation and raise bilateral relations to a new level. Hu expressed firm belief that with the joint efforts of both sides China-Spain relations will stride towards a better future.

On the evening, Carlos held a grand welcome dinner in the oriental palace for Hu and Madame Liu where the two heads of state delivered a speech respectively.

In his speech Carlos spoke highly of the traditional friendship between the Spanish and Chinese people and stressed that the constant expansion of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation is conducive to the economic and social progress of both countries. He noted that Hu's visit is of great importance and reflects the willingness of both sides to push the bilateral relations to a new stage of substantive development. Spain and China will enhance cooperation and make greater contributions to building a world with greater equality, solidarity, mutual help and prosperity.

Hu, in his speech, pointed out that located at the two ends of the Eurasia continent China and Spain are far from each other, but the two peoples have started contacts since ancient times. It is through Spain that the Chinese inventions like papermaking technique spread to Europe as early as 1000 years ago. The two countries once jointly promoted the exchanges between oriental and western civilizations through the ancient Silk Road. In recent years China-Spain cooperation in all fields develops quickly, bringing about tangible benefits to the two peoples.

After reviewing the achievements of bilateral friendly cooperation since the establishment of China-Spain diplomatic ties, Hu stressed that the Chinese people cherish their friendship with the Spanish people. The bilateral friendly cooperation enjoys a solid foundation and promising prospects and to further develop the bilateral ties complies with the fundamental interest of the two countries and our people. We are ready to work with the Spanish government and people to make relentless efforts to build the China-Spain all-round strategic partnership and create greater benefits to the two peoples.

Over 100 guests including Tang Jiaxuan, other Chinese accompanying officials, members of the Spanish royal family, ministers of the Spanish government and personnel from all circles of the Spanish society were present at the dinner.

On the evening of November 13, King Carlos held a family dinner for Hu and Madame Liu, extending cordial welcome to their visit to Spain.