Africa is a solution for Spain's growth
Africa and Spain have great potential in terms of their bilateral economic and investment relations, but there is a lack of knowledge about the possibilities offered by the African continent. This is what the former Prime Minister of Benin, Lionel Zinsou, who spoke to Atalayar's microphones during the Africa-Spain Cooperation Summit, said.
Mr Lionel Zinsou, what was your objective at this summit?
I think we are doing something very important. Which is simply to get to know each other much better, especially Africa, which is still not a very important partner in Spain's foreign trade and investment.
So the first thing is to get to know each other. My country, Benin, is not very well known in Spain. And even for historical reasons, our relations with Portugal and Brazil have historically been more important. In our country there are many families with Brazilian and therefore Portuguese surnames. And then the population is educated in French, which is the national language, and the result is that we are less familiar with Spain.
And it's a pity, because culturally we have Christian religious bases and the importance of Islam, which goes way back in history, which are very common between Africa and Spain. And, in fact, Africa and Spain are much more important to each other than either of us realise.
I have had the personal good fortune to run two Spanish companies in my career. I am one of the Africans who knows that Spain is extremely competitive and, at the same time, I am a West African and West Africa has grown three times faster than Europe over the last 20 years.
Since the 1970s, Spain has become one of the most competitive countries in Europe. And Africa is about to overtake Asia, which is ageing. So we have two experiences and we are going to take lessons of modernity and competitiveness from Spain. And, fortunately, our history has been very little influenced by colonisation. So Spain, apart from the Maghreb and South Africa, is a new idea in Africa.
That is why it is important that we exchange ideas, that companies on both sides get to know each other, because I believe that Africa is a solution for Spain's growth, because Spain is very close to Africa. For a very simple reason. Within a generation there will be 2.5 billion inhabitants, while in Europe there will be 100 million fewer inhabitants. Spain is the closest European country to Africa. We have to get to know each other. This is true for culture and it is also true for many economic areas, in particular industry, in particular energy, in particular green hydrogen.
We have a lot to do together, and we start today.