Ahead of tonight’s opening of the “Struga Poetry Evenings”, President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova received Luis Garcia Montero, Director of the Cervantes Institute and a prominent Spanish poet, accompanied by Rafael Soriano Ortiz, Ambassador of Spain to Skopje.
As patron of the festival, she said that Spanish poetry has a special place in its history, recalling the participation of Rafael Alberti in 1978 and the Spanish laureate Justo Jorge Padrón, who will be remembered for his extraordinary verses dedicated to Struga.
For the President, the Cervantes Institute played a key role in the development and promotion of the Spanish language and culture, for which Luis Garcia Montero has special merit.
Emphasizing the importance of the Spanish-Macedonian cultural connection and cooperation, the guest pointed out that the Cervantes Institute has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.
The interlocutors assessed that the opening of the Cervantes Institute in Skopje, on which Montero and Ambassador Ortiz are actively working, would enable deepening of cultural ties between the two countries.
The guest expressed his commitment to opening a Department of Spanish Language within the Faculty of Philology at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, as well as expanding the use of the Spanish language in the Macedonian educational system.
The meeting ended with exchange of gifts inspired by “Don Quixote”. The President awarded Montero with a monograph with paintings by Vladimir Georgievski, including those from the cycle dedicated to “Don Quixote”, while from the Spanish guest she received a scarf with illustrations from the historical edition of Cervantes’ novel.
