The 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 that both regions share: security, sustainable development, good governance and safe and beneficial mobility for all.
Spain is increasingly aware that Africa's present and future, its prosperity, as well as its security and progress towards truly inclusive and sustainable development, are strategic interests of the highest order for our nation. The desire for a closer partnership with Africa also reflects deep-rooted values among the Spanish people. Therefore, the new strategy cements 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 project resulting from an extensive consultation process with Governments and organisations, businesses, civil society and think tanks, in Africa and Spain. It is a Spanish strategy that seeks, however, to align itself with the diagnoses, objectives and aspirations arising from the continent itself, expressed in a dialogue between equals based on respect and a search for mutual interest.
The last working meetings before the approval of the Strategy will soon be held, one of them in the Africa Round Table format, another with the public administration, and another with the African ambassadors, to add the finishing touches to the text.
The five objectives to be developed in the Strategy are: (1) strengthening our relationship; (2) growing together, especially involving the young; (3) better connecting the societies and economies of Africa, Spain and the world; (4) protecting the most vulnerable; and (5) living 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 Spain's assets to facilitate this new strategic relationship and concludes with a proposal for 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 leading 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 with a presence in several African countries through cultural and educational cooperation instruments and a growing demand for Spanish language learning.
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