Spain's Foreign Ministry prepares a new strategy for Africa
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation is finalising the details of a new 'Strategy for Africa' that will guide Spain's action on the African continent in the coming years.
The Strategy, which is expected to be approved in September, represents a further step towards achieving the objectives shared by both regions: security, sustainable development, good governance and safe and beneficial mobility for all.
Spain is increasingly aware that the present and future of Africa, its prosperity, its security and its progress towards truly inclusive and sustainable development are strategic interests of the first order for our country.
The desire for a closer partnership with Africa also reflects the deep-rooted values of the Spanish people. To this end, the new strategy consolidates the African continent as a priority, with a greater focus on West Africa and the Sahel.
Content of the new strategy
The Strategy is a collective work, the result of a broad consultation process with governments and organisations, companies, civil society and think tanks, in Africa and in Spain. It is a Spanish strategy that seeks, nevertheless, to align itself with the diagnoses, objectives and aspirations arising from the continent itself, transmitted in a dialogue between equals based on respect and the search for mutual interest.
The last working meetings before the approval of the Strategy will soon be held, one of them in the Africa Table format, another with the public administration and another with the African ambassadors, in order to finalise the last details of the text.
The five objectives to be developed in the Strategy are: (1) to strengthen our relationship; (2) to grow together, especially involving young people; (3) to better connect the societies and economies of Africa, Spain and the world; (4) to protect the most vulnerable; and (5) to live together in open and inclusive societies.
The Strategy is based on a diagnosis of the opportunities and challenges that the African continent presents in a competitive global environment. It sets out the assets that Spain has to accompany this new strategic relationship and ends with the proposal of 100 actions that will put into practice the ideas jointly developed during the consultation process. Among them, emphasis will be placed on closer multilateral cooperation at the UN, G20 and EU levels.
Spanish leadership
With this strategy, Spain assumes a leadership role as the European country closest to Africa, with a growing political dialogue with the AU and ECOWAS, a partner in trade and investment, development cooperation, security and migration management, a leading country in the transport and energy infrastructure sectors, in the fishing sector (with the largest fishing fleet in the EU) and present in several African countries with cultural and educational cooperation instruments and with a growing demand for Spanish language learning.