The Diplomat
King Philip VI presided yesterday at the Royal Palace of El Pardo, in Madrid, the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, which was attended by former Presidents of Government Felipe González, José María Aznar, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy.
“Pessimism is in retreat, but that does not mean that the complexity of the global agenda has diminished”, said José Juan Ruiz during the presentation of his first report as president of the Elcano Royal Institute. “Quite the contrary: the fight against climate change, the globalization of the technological revolution, and the future of work, the future of democracies, the provision of global public goods such as health or security the future of cities, the image and reputation of countries, or inclusive growth will continue to be, among others, formidable challenges with obvious economic, social, institutional and geopolitical implications that will affect our society and our companies”, he continued.
Apart from the King and José Juan Ruiz, the meeting was attended by María Dolores de Cospedal, former Minister of Defense, former President of Castilla-La Mancha and Vice-President of the Elcano Royal Institute; Nadia Calviño, Third Vice-President of the Government for Economic Affairs; Arancha González Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Margarita Robles, Minister of Defense; José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, Minister of Culture and Sports; former presidents Felipe González, José María Aznar, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy; José Luis Martínez-Almeida, Mayor of Madrid; Marcelino Oreja, former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Javier Solana, former High Representative of the European Council; and the leaders of major Spanish companies, among others.
After reading and approving the minutes of the previous meeting, the accounts and the report for the 2020 financial year, and after welcoming the new trustees – Madrid City Council, Prosegur, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, Chairman of Caixabank, and Miguel Arias Cañete-, José Juan Ruiz highlighted the excellent work carried out by Emilio Lamo de Espinosa (present at the meeting) during his time as former president of the Elcano Royal Institute and asked the Board of Trustees for a mandate to start a process to strengthen the corporate governance of the Elcano Royal Institute, as well as its human capital and internal organization.
Ruiz also stressed the need to deepen the digitization of the Institute’s activity, to focus more on the research agenda and to strengthen its international alliances, all of which should be reflected in a Strategic Plan for the period 2022-2025, which will be developed and discussed during the second half of the year and submitted for consideration by the Board of Trustees at the end of the year.
