García-Margallo Meets Former Minister Igor Ivanov

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1998 and 2004 has been involved in the forum “Red de Casas" (Network of Houses in Spanish) hosted in Casa de América.

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Igor Ivanov, in the meeting moderated by the president of EFE, Jose Antonio Vera, addressed some of the main topics of international news, such as the crisis in Ukraine and relations EU-Russia, the recent nuclear deal with Iran and its possible implications in the region, the situation in Syria, and the fight against international terrorism.

The “Red de Casas” is an initiative created in February 2015 to strengthen the activities of the Houses of Public Diplomacy (Casa America, Arab, African, Asian, Mediterranean and Sefarad-Israel). The “Houses Network” as a whole, is a powerful network of public diplomacy of the Government of Spain, oriented to political and economic cooperation, intercultural dialogue, mutual knowledge and it helps to strengthen the ties between civil societies in the different geographical areas in which they operate.

The meeting was convened by the Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the UPM, the Unit Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, the Anna Lindh Foundation and the International Centre for Interreligious Dialogue King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz. It was attended by high representatives of the UN, OSCE, the Club of Madrid, UNESCO, Library of Alexandria, Council of Europe, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Government of Catalonia, Morocco, Cyprus, Tunisia, Malta, Algeria and Slovenia, among other organizations, institutions and countries of the Mediterranean area.

The Director General of Mediterranean House participated in the meetings on behalf of the consortium, committed institution, like the rest of the organisms present in the meeting, in maintaining dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

García-Margallo has emphasized the need to persevere in continuous contact between the Mediterranean nations to uphold universal principles of peace, stability and development in critical and serious times.

The objectives of the meeting are to emphasize the importance of ongoing dialogue, identify initiatives, strengthen partnerships and establish a plan of action based on common interests.

The topics discussed were the necessary investment in education and work, especially aimed at young people and women, building inclusive societies and strengthening institutions to counter violent extremism.