The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, begins a trip on Wednesday to Mauritania and Senegal with the aim of strengthening collaboration with two countries that are strategic partners for Spain in North Africa. This is the first visit by the Spanish minister to Sub-Saharan Africa.
In Nouakchott, Minister Albares will hold a meeting with his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, who he already had the opportunity to meet on the occasion of the NATO Summit in Madrid at the dinner of the foreign ministers of countries in the Southern Neighbourhood. José Manuel Albares and Ould Merzoug will discuss the progress in the fight against illegal immigration and security in the Sahel, as well as economic and trade relations between the two countries.
An important part of this visit will be given over to development and cultural cooperation. Accordingly, the Spanish minister will visit Spanish Cooperation projects in Nouakchott, including the centre in the Mauritanian capital of the National Society for the Distribution of Fish, one of the priority actions of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in the country, that helps improve access to the consumption of fish for the people of Mauritania to reinforce food security.
The second stop-over of the trip, to Senegal, will begin with a visit to the Cervantes Institute in Dakar, inaugurated by Her Majesty, the Queen of Spain, back in December and the first headquarters of the institution to open in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation will visit the “Marfil” detachment of the Spanish Air Force at Dakar Airport, and also the arsenal in Dakar Port, where Guardia Civil and National Police Force units undertake surveillance and security operations.
During his stay in the capital of Senegal, Minister Albares will hold a meeting with the President, Macky Sall, at the Palace of the Republic, and have lunch with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Senegalese Diaspora, Aissata Tall Sall. The visit coincides with the holding of political consultations between the two countries, which will be closed off by the two ministers and with the Senegalese Presidency of the African Union.
Spain and Senegal maintain close collaboration on cultural, economic, migratory, trade, development cooperation, agricultural and health relation aspects, such as the Bilateral Agreement on Social Security between the two countries and projects by several Spanish companies: some on water issues, others on the electrification of 50,000 homes, and lastly, another to provide airports with technological equipment and the digitalisation of tourism in the country.
-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-