The Instituto Cervantes is a public institution assigned to the Spanish Ministry of foreign affaires, created in 1991 for the promotion and the teaching of Spanish and for the expansion of Spanish and Latin-American culture. It has over 40 centres throughout the world in Europe, Africa, Asia and America. It is the reference institution in the teaching of Spanish worldwide and the only one that can issue official diplomas of Spanish (DELE), certifying the level in this language. These diplomas are recognized by companies, institutions, chambers of commerce, etc, around the world.