Eduardo González
The Board of Trustees of the Spain-USA Council Foundation held its last ordinary meeting of the year this past Tuesday, whose main item on the agenda was the approval of the Action Plan for the year 2024 and which was attended by the future ambassador of Spain in Washington, Ángeles Moreno Bau, on her last day as State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs.
During the meeting (the 116th meeting of the Board of Trustees), the president of the Foundation, Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Repsol, took stock of his first year at the head of the institution before a large group of representatives of companies and institutions that make up part of the Board of Trustees, including the vice president of the Foundation, José María de Areilza; the former vice president of the Government Soraya Saenz de Santamaría, the president of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Spain (AmchamSpain), Jaime Malet – who renewed his position as trustee on this occasion -, and the aforementioned Ángeles Moreno.
As reported by the institution of Spanish public diplomacy in a press release, 2023 has witnessed important milestones for the Foundation, such as the celebration at the Teatro Real in Madrid of the ceremony for the presentation of the X Bernardo de Gálvez Award to the Meadows Museum of Dallas, the organization of four visitor programs (the most recent, the one held the last week of November in collaboration with the European External Action Service) and the exhibition Invisible Migrants. Spaniards in the USA (1868-1945) in the Almería Art Museum, closed on November 15. Since it was inaugurated in January 2020 in Madrid, the exhibition has been visited by more than 30,000 people and is already preparing to make the leap to the United States.
One of the most relevant activities in 2024 for the Consejo Foundation will be the celebration, between May 31 and June 1, of the XXVII Spain-United States Forum, organized jointly with the United States Spain Council and which will take place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Santa Fe Forum will be the first co-chaired by Imaz and Senator Ben Ray Luján, honorary president of the United States Spain Council, and will focus on three topics of great interest: cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and climate change and water.
During the event, Ángeles Moreno reiterated the commitment and support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Foundation to “work together in the organization of the Santa Fe Forum and in the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Independence of the United States scheduled for 2026, events that will value Spain’s past and present contribution to what the United States is today.”
It so happens that that same day Moreno Bau’s term as State Secretary ended. On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers named her successor, Diego Martínez Belío, and, just one day later, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published the dismissal of the hitherto ‘number two’ of the Ministry.
Ángeles Moreno Bau will be the new ambassador of Spain in the United States and, according to reliable sources informed The Diplomat, the Spanish Government has already requested permission from the Washington authorities to proceed with the appointments of Moreno Bau. Once approval is received from the United States, which could take place within several weeks, the Council of Ministers would proceed to appoint her, expectedly in January or February, if the usual deadlines between partner countries are met.
