Santander, Spain - US President Barack Obama will visit Spain during the country's European Union presidency in the first half of 2010, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos announced Friday.

The visit was seen as signalling warmer relations following a freeze under Obama's predecessor George W Bush.

Obama will come to Spain on the occasion of a bilateral US-EU summit, Moratinos explained.

Prior to that, Obama was scheduled to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during a G20 summit in the US state of Pennsylvania in September, according to the minister.

The meeting would be the second bilateral one between the two leaders.

The relations between Madrid and Washington cooled 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 US perceived as a soft policy on Cuba.

Bush did not accept meeting Zapatero bilaterally, and Obama's presidency was hailed as launching a "new era" for relations between the two countries. (dpa)