The director of the Cervantes Institute participates in the 40th anniversary of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia

The director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, is taking part this Friday in Santiago de Compostela in the institutional events organised by the Galician Parliament to mark the 40th anniversary of the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia.

The celebration, entitled 'Four decades of self-government. Galicia's statutory institutions. Challenges and opportunities', will open at 10 a.m. with speeches by the President of the Galician Parliament, Miguel Ángel Santalices Vieira, and the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

This will be followed (10:30-11:30 a.m.) by the round table discussion Consello da Cultura Galega. A comparative experience, led by the president of this cultural institution, Rosario Álvarez Blanco; the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, and the director in Portugal of the Organisation of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), Ana Paula Laborinho.

In the colloquium, which will be moderated by the journalist Xesús Fontenla Rodríguez, chronicler of Galician regional television (TVG), García Montero will explain the Cervantes Institute's support for the co-official languages and linguistic diversity of Spain, as well as its respect for our multicultural reality.

Along these lines, a year ago (26 May 2020) the Cervantes Institute signed an unprecedented agreement with the heads of the three institutions that promote Galician, Catalan and Basque languages and culture: the president of the Consello da Cultura Galega, Rosario Álvarez Blanco; the director of the Institut Ramon Llull, Iolanda Batallé; and the director of the Etxepare Euskal Institutua-Instituto Vasco Etxepare, Irene Larraza.

This four-way collaboration agreement, signed remotely and digitally due to the pandemic, was the culmination of a series of previous meetings between the Cervantes Institute and these entities with the shared objective of strengthening collaboration in the projection of the cultures and diverse languages of Spain on an international level.

After tomorrow's first round table, two other debates will be held on two relevant Galician entities: The institution of the Ombudsman (Valedor do Pobo). Defence of citizens' rights in a society in transit, and The Audit Board. Auditing the public sector. New competencies and new challenges.

The event for this 40th anniversary of the Statute, which will take place in the Salón de los Reyes of the Galician Parliament, will be closed (1:30 p.m.) by the President of this institution, Miguel Ángel Santalices.

Sent by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanismo advisor.