Albares chairs the first meeting of the Global Spanish Language Observatory

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, during his speech

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has chaired the first meeting of the plenary session of the Global Spanish Language Observatory, one of the most emblematic components of the "Language Valley" in La Rioja. A project that aims to take advantage of the potential of Spanish as a tool for territorial development in a scenario characterised by the processes of digitalisation and transformations in knowledge technology.

The meeting, which was held at the head office of the Cervantes Institute in Madrid, allowed its members to learn about the preparatory work carried out to date and to discuss and approve the proposed three-year action plan (2025-2027) agreed by the Observatory's permanent executive committee on 28 October in Logroño.

The centre's plenary session highlighted the strategic importance of Spanish as a line of action in Spain's foreign policy, and the importance of planning and design based on obtaining clear and precise data on the international and socio-economic importance of the Spanish language.

Albares reminded the Observatory's plenary session that, for the Government of Spain, our language is a strategic axis of our foreign policy. There is therefore a need for organisations that help us to have better diagnoses of its weight in the world and that serve to complement, support and reinforce the work carried out by the Instituto Cervantes. The minister also highlighted the impetus given by the authorities of La Rioja in May 2022.

The plenary session was followed by a public presentation of the Global Spanish Language Observatory, in which Minister Albares spoke to explain that the Observatory is conceived as a research centre. It will have a team of professionals dedicated to analysing and studying the situation of Spanish in the world, with a special emphasis on the areas of the new digital economy, and therefore aims to become a fundamental tool for knowledge and understanding.

Key tool

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, during his speech

Albares explained that this Observatory aims to become a key tool for shaping strategic actions to promote and disseminate our language and, in particular, its link with the new digital economy and all the opportunities it opens up. To this end, it will be essential to define those areas in which studies and data collection and analysis can provide relevant and necessary information for the definition of the most effective strategies.

The minister also insisted that it is an instrument open to international collaboration, starting with the sister countries of Ibero-America with which we share cultural and historical ties and with which we share a common heritage: the Spanish language. In this regard, he recalled that, over the last few months, Spain has signed bilateral memoranda of understanding for the promotion of Spanish in the diplomatic sphere and in international organisations with Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and Chile.

Non official translation