The plenary also approved the report on the actions carried out in 2023

This morning, the Plenary Session of DIPLOCAT held a remotely-attended meeting chaired by the Catalan Minister for External Action and the European Union, Meritxell Serret. DIPLOCAT is a public-private consortium made up of 38 entities and entities and the Plenary Session is its highest representative body. Following a years-long process, the Plenary Session today unanimously approved the new Statutes of the consortium. The previous Statutes, which were approved in 2012, had to be renewed to bring them into line with the current regulations governing public sector consortia.

Minister Serret said, "today is a historic day for the organisation, as a new phase is being launched to maintain the internationalisation drive of our society at the highest level". The Minister acknowledged the added value of DIPLOCAT's long history and the commitment of all the member organisations, "who have been engaged throughout all these years in internationalising our economy, culture and institutions, despite very complex times". Laura Foraster i Lloret, Secretary-General of DIPLOCAT, was very pleased with the result and explained, "the process has been slow due to the large number of organisations forming part of the consortium and because at all times the agreements and consensus with the member organisations have been prioritised over the speed of processing".

When the new statutes were being drafted, and after consulting the member entities, it was felt that the time was right to propose a change in the name of the entity and a modernisation of the brand. The name chosen is Catalonia International, which clearly defines the consortium's objective and scope of action. The current official name, Patronat Catalunya Món - Consell de Diplomàcia Pública de Catalunya (PCM-DIPLOCAT), had become outdated because the name Patronat Catalunya Món was discontinued in 2012 and was only used for legal matters. Moreover, the Spanish Constitutional Court issued a ruling on 23 September 2020 prohibiting the use of the term "public diplomacy" to refer to the work carried out by DIPLOCAT, at which point the name Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia, which accompanied the DIPLOCAT brand, was to be abandoned.

Regarding the remaining amendments to the new Statutes, the most important are as follows:

• Regulating the use of electronic media in the summoning of governing bodies.
• Regulating the rights and duties of the consortium members, in general, as well as the rights and duties of the members of the governing body.
• The governance system of the entity is defined on the basis of a Governing Council (governing body) and an Executive Council (management body), similar to the current one.
• The Governing Council is empowered to appoint a Directorate-General of the entity, serving for a four-year term of office and following a public contest.
• The entity's Consulting Council is renamed the Advisory Council.

The plenary session also approved the balance sheet of the work carried out in 2023. This balance sheet reviews the 53 activities that DIPLOCAT organised last year, 14 more than in 2022, with 187 speakers and 2,760 attendees. The report also includes a brief description of the activities, a timetable, quantitative and qualitative indicators of the achievement of objectives, the budget settlement and the media coverage obtained, among others.