CONFERENCE | DEFINITION AND ARTICULATION OF THE IBERIAN WORLD

The logic and potential derived from the substantive affinity between the two main Iberian languages, Spanish and Portuguese – the only major international languages that are reciprocally understandable in general terms –, together with profound and numerous elements of a cultural, historical, geopolitical and of a cooperative nature, are at the basis of the Multinational Space of Spanish and Portuguese Speaking Countries – the so-called Pan-Iberian Space or Iberophony – which largely corresponds to the sum of the Ibero-American Community of Nations and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries . It is a multinational group that brings together around 900 million people and thirty countries from all continents, which constitutes the first geolinguistic block in the world, and which represents a fifth of the planet's surface, as well
as the tenth in demographic terms.

In recent years, concrete and verifiable steps have been taken in their articulation process, which contributes to giving greater visibility and international influence to Ibero-speaking countries, to promoting horizontal and triangular cooperation between States in America, Europe, Africa and Asia, and for the balance in geocultural terms – and for the benefit of the greater cultural and linguistic diversity of the entire International Community – of some homogenizing aspects and visions of ongoing globalization.

Since the beginning of the nineties of the last century, the academic, professional and proactive work of Dr. F. Álvaro Durántez has directly contributed to the geopolitical and cooperative process of pan-Iberian articulation. Now is the time for official bodies to face together, with a vision of the future and a high vision, this unavoidable challenge, because it is a trend that benefits all the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking peoples of the world, and the International Community itself.