Cuerpo and Urtasun attend the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Elcano Institute

The Diplomat The Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, attended this Monday the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Elcano Royal Institute, chaired by José Juan Ruiz, president of the Institute, and which addressed, among other issues, the entry of the Indra company and the main axes of action in 2025. Among the attendees were also Miguel Arias Cañete, representative of the People’s Party on the Board of Trustees; José Luis Bonet, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Spain; María Dolores de Cospedal, vice president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Rafael Estrella, former vice president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, former president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Xavier Martí, undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation; Charles Powell, director of the Elcano Royal Institute, and Eduardo Serra, former president of the Elcano Royal Institute, among many others. Were unable to attend, but delegated their vote: former presidents of the Government Felipe González, José María Aznar and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles; Gustavo Suárez-Pertierra, former president of the Elcano Royal Institute; José María Álvarez-Pallete, president of Telefónica; Raül Blanco Díaz, president of Renfe; José Bogas Gálvez, CEO of Endesa; Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander; Antonio Brufau, president of Repsol; José Luis Escrivá, governor of the Bank of Spain, and Ignacio S. Galán, president of Iberdrola, among others. During the meeting, José Juan Ruiz announced the entry of a new entity into the Board of Trustees, Indra, whose incorporation into the Institute has been approved in this session. “For the first time in its history, a patron returns to the Institute, which will allow it to strengthen one of its main lines of research by creating a Security and Defence Observatory, generating more quality analysis in a key area,” the think tank highlighted. For his part, the director of the Institute, Charles Powell, presented the 2025 Action Plan, which “aims to continue offering Spanish society rigorous analysis of an increasingly complex and unpredictable international reality, and to generate ideas that are useful to public and private decision-makers.” The 2025 Action Plan maintains its articulation around the ten thematic axes defined by the Institute as the most relevant to focus its research agenda: the future of Europe, challenges to international peace and security, climate and energy transition, technology and economic transformations, Latin America, the United States, China and the new world order, challenges and opportunities for the neighbourhood, democracy and citizenship, influence and image of Spain and globalisation, development and governance. These are joined by five cross-cutting themes (cities, culture, gender, migration and health), which are present in various lines of work and which interrelate and intersect with each other. Among the research production and activities for 2025, Charles Powell and María Solanas, Director of Programs, explained that the Institute will address, as a priority, relevant issues of the European project (its reform and enlargement, economic security, regulation, competitiveness and industrial policy, as well as its relationship with the so-called "global south"), security and defense (which now extend to Space) in its European and transatlantic dimension, the geopolitics of climate and energy transition, some consequences of the great technological transformations and the future of Latin America (in its political, economic and security dimension, without forgetting health and migration). Furthermore, the regions that are crucial to Spain's interests will continue to be analysed, such as North Africa and the Middle East, West Africa and our southern and eastern neighbourhood as a whole, the transatlantic space, the Asia-Pacific region (with a special focus on China and India), as well as highly topical issues such as globalisation and its evolution, international governance, development, global terrorism and the challenges to democracy in the world. During the question and answer session, Carlos Cuerpo highlighted the Institute's capacity throughout its history to support the internationalisation of Spanish companies and Ernest Urtasun underlined the great scope for collaboration that exists to promote Spain's cultural projection in fields such as language, cultural industries and major events.

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