Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Carla Barbosa, assured yesterday in Madrid that Spanish businessmen who want to invest in the country will be “welcome” and drew attention, in this regard, to the “great tourism potential” of this African nation.
“We have had good cooperation with Spain for years” but there is a “possibility of more intense bilateral cooperation”, Barbosa declared during a joint press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, at the Palacio de Viana.
During the meeting, Barbosa invited her Spanish counterpart to make “a future visit to Guinea-Bissau so that she can see Spanish projects on the ground” and to discuss the possibilities offered by her country for “Spanish investment”. “Guinea-Bissau has a very great potential for tourism and offers the opportunity of a new market, which is why we are going to facilitate Spanish investments, which will be welcome”, she added in perfect Spanish.
She also announced that her government is “thinking of opening a Consulate General in Almeria, the second area of Spain with the most Guinean-Bissauan citizens, so that they do not have to come to Madrid to do their paperwork, wasting time and money”. The first destination of the Guinea-Bissau diaspora in Spain is Madrid, where the Embassy already has its own consular office.
For her part, González Laya praised the “political and economic stability of the country” and said that during the meeting the two ministers had discussed joint work in the areas of tourism, fishing, attracting investment in the infrastructure and renewable energy sectors and the empowerment of women, “a priority for Guinea-Bissau”. They also discussed “cooperation in security and joint work against human trafficking mafias and clandestine networks of arms and drugs”, areas in which “Guinea-Bissau and Spain have been working together for decades”.
