The international leg of the WorldSkills Flag Relay gets underway in Madrid, Spain, where international skills competitions began in 1950. The ceremony includes the formal arrival of the WorldSkills Flag, and a parade of the flags of all 44 previous WorldSkills Competitions. Honored guests of the event will put on the flag the logos of previously held WorldSkills Competitions in Spain, and former competitors, as well as young volunteers who study at the Institute Virgen de la Paloma where the first international skills competition was held, will be at the heart of the event.

Present at the ceremony were Marcial Marín Hellín, Secretary of State for Education, from the Spanish government, Rafael van Grieken, Regional Minister of Education and Research, the President of WorldSkills International, Simon Bartley, the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan, Vladimir Leonov, and the Director General of WorldSkills Russia, Robert Urazov. Also present was Paloma, one of the daughters of Francisco Albert Vidal – the founder of the WorldSkills global movement.