Visit to Casa Árabe by IE Diplomatic Academy students 

A group of students from this university program visited Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Madrid on Thursday, February 19, as part of their program of visits to relevant institutions in the field of public diplomacy. 

This Instituto de Empresa program is intended for students in their final years of undergraduate studies and in graduate programs, interested in pursuing a professional career in their countries’ foreign service or with international organizations. The course is designed to provide guidance on both the current geopolitical reality and the theory and practice of diplomacy.

With the help of Santiago Cabanas, a diplomat and former Spanish Ambassador to the United States, the group of twenty students from different countries were received by the Casa Árabe’s General Director, Miguel Moro Aguilar, who welcomed them and explained the institution’s mission to them, as well as its membership in the Casas Network run by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation (MAEUEC). 

Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s Coordinator of Culture and International Relations, then explained how Spanish public diplomacy has been practiced through Casa Árabe and, more specifically, the various changes and developments in Spanish-Arab relations, as well as the diversity of the institution’s schedule of activities, held at its two headquarters in Madrid and Cordoba. As a final brushstroke, the students go the chance to tour the exhibition From Alif to Zain: Calligraphic art in motion, with a detailed explanation of the artists’ origins and the meaning of their works.