Foreign Ministry signs agreement with legal sector to promote international arbitration in Spanish

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares signed an agreement this Monday with the Madrid International Arbitration Center-Ibero-American Arbitration Center (CIAM-CIAR) and the Spanish and Ibero-American Arbitration Club (CEIA) to promote the use of Spanish in the legal field. The objective of this General Protocol of Action is to promote international arbitration in Spanish, increase coordination among the parties, consolidate Madrid as the capital of Ibero-American arbitration in the lead-up to the Ibero-American Summit to be hosted by the Spanish capital, contribute to the dissemination of studies on the subject, and support training programs for Ibero-American lawyers and university arbitration competitions in Spanish. During the signing ceremony, José Manuel Albares emphasized that “steady progress is being made to ensure that the economic weight of Spanish is directly related to the use of the Spanish language in international litigation.” “Promoting Spanish worldwide is one of Spain’s foreign policy priorities,” the minister wrote on social media. During the event, the results of the report “Use of the Spanish Language in International Arbitration 2025,” prepared by the Global Observatory of Spanish in cooperation with the CEIA and the Ministry, were also presented. According to data from the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce, based in Paris), in arbitrations administered by the ICC over the last ten years, awards issued in Spanish have represented between 4.26% and 8.16% of the total awards, while in the same period the proportion of cases whose applicable law is in Spanish is higher (ranging between 12.74% and 16.37%). “This translates into great potential for growth if Spanish-speaking parties in arbitrations commit to the goal of increasing the use of Spanish,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has long been working with other governments and the Ibero-American legal sector to launch various initiatives promoting the use of Spanish in international organizations and courts, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). As a result of this work, Spanish was recognized as an official language at the HCCH in 2024, and a multilateral process has been initiated for its recognition as an official language at the ICJ, also based in The Hague. In the other organizations, the use of Spanish is increasing in their daily operations and communications. “Arbitration in Spanish is of strategic importance, as it encourages economic activity and legal certainty in Ibero-American countries and globally,” the Ministry's press release continued. “Arbitration helps promote investment and international trade by fostering respect for the rule of law and the trust necessary for economic activity, and it offers an effective mechanism for dispute resolution,” it concluded.

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