Madrid - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will meet US President Barack Obama in the White House on October 13, five years after relations cooled under Obama's predecessor George W Bush, government sources said Friday in Madrid. Zapatero and Obama have met bilaterally once before, but the meeting will be the Spanish premier's first official one with a US president in the White House.
Obama's coming to power was hailed as signalling a new era in bilateral relations, which deteriorated when Zapatero recalled Spanish troops from Iraq immediately after his first election victory in 2004.
Zapatero's Socialist government also made other moves disliked by Washington, such as attempting to sell aircraft and patrol boats to Venezuela, and adopting what the United States perceived as a soft policy on Cuba.
Bush never agreed to meet Zapatero bilaterally.
