Secretary Blas F. Ople, together with Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Officer-In-Charge Rey A. Carandang, Spanish Ambassador Ignacio Sagaz, and Instituto Cervantes Director Javier Galvan signed today, 1 July, the third Memorandum of Agreement on the Establishment of a Spanish Language Training Program.

The signing of the MOA follows the celebration of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day yesterday, 30 June. It was witnessed by guests from Spain namely: Secretary–General Rafael Rodriguez-Ponga of Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional (AECI), Director-General Gerardo Bugallo of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Felipe Bragado, Chief of Cabinet of Mr. Ponga, who called on Secretary Ople. Venezuelan Ambassador Milena Santana-Ramirez represented  the Latin American group during the ceremony. Officials from the Office of Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, the Office of American Affairs and the Office of European Affairs were also present during the signing.

The Spanish Language Training Program is a DFA initiative that was started in 2001 as part of the preparations for the Philippine hosting of the Forum for East Asia – Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and Second Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM).  These meetings will be held in Manila from 19 to 22 January 2004.

The program aims to teach the Spanish language to officers and staff of the Department and to familiarize them with Spanish and Latin American cultures to make them better prepared for the coming FEALAC meetings.  The program is also expected to produce a core of Spanish-speaking personnel who will be tapped to handle the Spanish and Latin American divisions and to staff Foreign Service posts in the near future.

The Spanish classes are conducted at the FSI by instructors from the Instituto Cervantes using the latest teaching materials and techniques.  The program has so far produced a total of 49 graduates with levels ranging from Spanish II to Spanish VI since 2001.

Three classes (Level 4, 6A and 6B) will be offered from 14 July to 24 October this year. It is expected that more than 50 DFA employees will avail themselves of these training programs. – END