T
hank you Oscar, thank you very much for everything you do on behalf of the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, as its Chairman. Your dedication, leadership and vision continue to carry the mission of the Institute forward.I am delighted to be here in New York City on the occasion of the Institute´s 2006 Gold Medal Gala. I am very pleased to know that you are all here because of a common goal: to enhance the cultural and intellectual ties between the United States and Spain and to broaden knowledge and understanding of Spanish and Latin American life and culture in this country.It has been a pleasure for me to bestow the Institute´s Gold Medal upon these four extraordinary individuals andndash;Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mercedes Junco Calderón, Eduardo Sánchez Junco and Mario Vargas Llosa. They fittingly represent, through their brilliant contribution to the world of diplomacy and philanthropy, business and publishing, literature and arts, what the Institute is trying to accomplish.I am so pleased that an organization as the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, involved in such a high quality cultural and educational work, bears the name of my mother, Queen Sofía, and I am proud of your love for a vibrant Spanish culture, something we all belief in.Thank you very much
"...I am very pleased to know that you are all here because of a common goal: to enhance the cultural and intellectual ties between the United States and Spain..."