Eduardo González
The director of the Instituto Cervante, Luis García Montero, begins today a working trip to Morocco, where he will inaugurate two new extensions and visit the Institute’s headquarters in Rabat and Fez.
The Instituto Cervantes is a reference institution in Morocco due to the historical, cultural and economic ties with Spain. Spanish has significant importance in Morocco, especially in the northern regions of the country, where it is widely spoken and serves as a bridge between the diverse linguistic and cultural heritage of the Alawite kingdom and the Spanish-speaking world.
Almost one and a half million people speak Spanish in Morocco and 80,000 study it in formal education (secondary and university education). Furthermore, Spain is one of Morocco’s main trading partners and a destination for Moroccans, so mastery of Spanish opens multiple opportunities in business, tourism and education.
The joint declaration adopted by Spain and Morocco during the High Level Meeting (RAN, for its acronym in Spanish)) in February 2023 includes, among the 74 points that mark the roadmap for the promotion of bilateral relations, the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in the universities in Morocco and the teaching of Arabic in university classrooms in Spain. Furthermore, during the same RAN, held in Rabat, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to promote the development of academic, scientific, technical and research training activities in matters of common interest, as well as for the joint organization of cultural activities that result in the university community of Morocco.
The visit will begin today in the coastal city of Martil, near Tétouan, where he will meet with Zouhaire Lamrani, director of the Higher Normal School (ENS) of the Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, to inaugurate a new extension of the Cervantes Institute in this university center, which will be attached to the Instituto Cervantes of Tétouan.
Publicly owned, the Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, created in 1989, is considered the first university in the northern region of Morocco. In June 2023, Cervantes signed an agreement with this university (and with the Mohammed V University of Rabat) to promote the teaching of language and culture in Spanish, within the framework, precisely, of the aforementioned Memorandum of Understanding signed during the Rabat RAN.
Subsequently, García Montero will be received at the Tétouan City Hall by Mustapha El Bakkouri, mayor of the city, and the rest of the municipal authorities, and will travel to the Jacinto Benavente Spanish School, where he will inaugurate a new classroom.
Likewise, García Montero will sign a collaboration agreement with the Tétouan Asmir Association for Sociocultural, Economic and Sports Development, one of the most prominent social agents in the city. This first day of work will end with the presentation of the visual art, painting, poetry and music magazine PintPoeS in the auditorium of the Instituto Cervantes. Francisco Oda-Ángel, director of the Cervantes center of Tétouan; and Clara Miret, Artistic Director of the new magazine, will participate in the event, and Luis García Montero will present his unpublished poem Genocidio.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, García Montero will travel to Rabat, where he will visit the Instituto Cervantes in the capital of Morocco and will hold a working meeting with the directors of the six centers that the institution has in the country (Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Tetouan, Tangier and Rabat) to analyze the situation of Spanish and the academic and cultural projects for this year 2024. The delegation will be received by Enrique Ojeda, ambassador of Spain in Morocco.
The work trip will end with a visit by García Montero to the Instituto Cervantes in Fez and its new expanded facilities, where he will hold a meeting with the center’s management team and staff. Later he will go to the Kacimi Gallery to visit the South-North Line. Contemporary cross-border artists exhibition and meet with Fouad Mahdaoui, Regional Delegate of Culture, and with Nadia Berrechid, Regional Head of Cultural Activities of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture.
In addition, he will visit the Al Quarauiyin Library, where the ancient collection of Andalusian manuscripts is located, accompanied by its curator, Abdelfatah Bougchouf. The last day of the tour will end with the Ministrers Capella concert, in the Borj Cheikh Ahmed bastion of the Fez medina.
