The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers approved yesterday, at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, the creation of the Global Observatory of Spanish, which will serve as a guide for the Instituto Cervantes to promote the language in the world and will be chaired by the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares.
As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release, the Observatory is the second initiative to be launched within the framework of the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Economic Transformation (PERTE) of the New Economy of the Language, after the boost to the creation of broad linguistic corpora for Artificial Intelligence through the Royal Spanish Academy and the National Supercomputing Center.
The Observatory will be chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and will include representatives from the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Education and Vocational Training, Culture and Sport, and Science and Innovation, as well as the Government of the Community of La Rioja, where its headquarters will be located.
The new body will report to the Instituto Cervantes, whose director will chair the permanent Executive Committee. Under its leadership, the Observatory will be responsible for analyzing the situation of Spanish and the co-official languages in the world, particularly in the new digital economy; promoting the knowledge and prestige of the Hispanic language and cultures; coordinating the actions of the Spanish observatories located in different countries; and developing studies and making proposals of great value to make language a driving force for economic growth.
The PERTE New Economy of the Language, which includes the Global Observatory of Spanish, was approved on March 1 by the Council of Ministers with the aim of promoting the use of Spanish in artificial intelligence, science and culture, and to encourage its teaching and learning. It has a budget of 1.1 billion euros of public investment, of which at least 30 million will be earmarked exclusively to support projects in co-official languages. The former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Ibero-America, Cristina Gallach, is the Special Commissioner for the Alliance for a New Economy of the Language.
“With this project, the Government reinforces its commitment to position Spain as a dynamic agent and benchmark for Spanish worldwide, generating benefits for the entire Spanish-speaking community,” the Ministry stated.
