The Council of Ministers, on advise from the Minister of Culture, Ángeles González-Sinde, have authorised a contribution of 260.000 euros to the IBERMEDIA programme from the Ministry of Culture, that will be distributed through the Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA).
IBERMEDIA includes 18 iberoamerican countries and offers around 6.500.000 dollars in annual support. In 2006, the Ministry of Culture, through the ICAA, began to participate economically by contributing 300.000 euros to the financial fund for the programme, that support grew to 400.000 euros in 2007, 2008 y 2009.
The IBERMEDIA programme (Development Programme to support the construction of an Iberoamerican audio-visual space) was approved by the VII Iberoamerican Summit of heads of State and Givernments during their meeting in the Margarita Island in 1997, with the aim to set the base for an iberoamerican audio-visual space, train for co-productions and distribution of films for cinema and television in Spanish and Portuguese languages, and enlarge the presence iberoamerican audiovisual products in international markets.