Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana (ICI) was a Spanish organisation, created in 1979 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and based in Madrid. ICI’s predecessors were the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica and the Centro Iberoamericano de Cooperación, whose aims were to preserve the idea of Hispanic culture. In November 1988, ICI became the AECI (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional) and experienced a change in its functions and infrastructure. In 2007 AECI became a state agency and transferred its name to AECID (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo). Currently AECID’s objectives are to manage and implement public policies directed at international cooperation to ensure sustainable development. They also work to actively build peace and move towards global citizenship. Poverty reduction is the ultimate goal of the AECID and they use the Millennium Development Goals as a reference to guide their work. They currently have 44 technical cooperation offices and 15 cultural training centres located in partner countries worldwide.