Jun 23, 2009, 11:07 GMT
Spain's King Juan Carlos and his wife Queen Sofia walked the red carpet in New Zealand this morning (23.06.09).
The royal couple was officially welcomed to the antipodean country at a state luncheon held in their honour at the Parliament building in Auckland.
Thousands of locals showed up to watch the king and queen walk through a royal guard to the reception hall.
Once inside, the royals sampled New Zealand's finest cuisine, including venison, beef, kumara, pavlova and local wines.
In his speech, the 71-year-old king spoke about the "many possibilities" for Spain and New Zealand to help each other through the global financial crisis.
He said: "There are now many examples of cooperation between New Zealand and Spain. Achieving greater closeness between our two countries is the main purpose of our state visit to New Zealand."
As a symbol of this "closeness", the monarch announced a new reciprocal working holiday scheme, which will allow up to 200 young New Zealanders to live and work in Spain for a year.
Also signed was a mutual voting rights agreement that allows New Zealanders living in Spain and Spanish people living in New Zealand to vote in all municipal elections.
Carlos and Sofia have been in New Zealand for three days. They will fly on to Australia tomorrow.
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CarlJun 23rd, 2009 - 11:44:31
New Zealand's capital is Wellington, not Auckland
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