The Diplomat
The Elcano Royal Institute held yesterday, virtually, the annual meeting of its Board of Trustees, in which the main lines of work for 2022 were defined, with special attention to the commemoration of the V Centenary of the First Round the World Race and the upcoming NATO Summit in Madrid.
The meeting was chaired by José Juan Ruiz, President of the Elcano Royal Institute, and was attended, among others, by José Manuel Albares, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Nadia Calviño, First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation; former Prime Ministers Felipe González and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former Minister and former European Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, representative of the PP in the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee; the former minister and former president of Castilla-La Mancha, María Dolores de Cospedal, vice-president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, former president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Charles Powell, director of the Elcano Royal Institute; Javier Solana, former High Representative of the European Council; Marcelino Oreja, former minister of Foreign Affairs; Eduardo Serra, former minister and former president of the Elcano Royal Institute; and representatives of the business and academic world.
During the event, Ruiz reported that, throughout the year 2021, Elcano has maintained an intense activity, with more than 75 public events -most of them hybrids-, more than 150 research papers in different formats and numerous debates in its 43 Working Groups. In the coming year, the availability of a new technological platform will enable the Institute to introduce new ways of disseminating its work and expand its presence in social networks.
The 2022 Action Plan is structured around ten axes: international threats to security, globalization, development and governance; democracy and citizenship; climate and energy transition, technology and economic transformations, the future of Europe, the rise of China, the USA and the new world order; challenges and opportunities of the Neighborhood, Latin America as a global actor and the influence and image of Spain.
In addition, among the many activities and initiatives planned for 2022, the Board of Trustees made special mention of two of them. One of them is the publication of a book commemorating the feat carried out by Elcano and Magellan, “a binational project that we have developed in close collaboration with the Center for International Studies of the University Institute of Lisbon and that represents the specific contribution of the Institute to the official program of the National Commission for the Commemoration of the V Centenary of the First Round the World Tour”.
The other outstanding activity is the development of various initiatives related to the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Spain’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance and to the process leading to the launch of the new NATO Strategic Concept, which will culminate in the holding of a major international seminar, coinciding with the Alliance summit to be held in Madrid in June 2022.
Finally, the Board of Trustees approved the incorporation of Oesía Networks S.L. and Escribano MechanicaL and Engineering, S.L., as new Trustees, and the appointment of Antonio Sánchez Montero as Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and María Solanas as Deputy Secretary.
