The Diplomat
The Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Ángeles Moreno Bau, yesterday held an online working meeting with her counterpart from Portugal, Francisco André, who explained the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the European Union in terms of development cooperation.
During the meeting with the Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Ángeles Moreno Bau reported on the Solidarity Vaccination Plan against COVID-19 that Spain has launched to facilitate access to vaccines for the least developed countries. She also defended the need to promote public-private partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and showed Spain’s “complete alignment” with the challenges of digitalization, green economy, gender, education in emergencies and development-security nexus.
For his part, Francisco André explained the three priorities of the Portuguese European presidency, such as economic and social recovery with emphasis on climate transformation and digitalization, the advancement of the European social model in the world and the strengthening of EU autonomy. He also reviewed the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the European Union in terms of development cooperation and warned of the need to place Africa and Latin American countries among the European priorities, with special attention to the Maghreb region.
At the European level, the participants in the meeting highlighted the need to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the beginning of a new European financial cycle, together with the new Neighborhood, Development and Cooperation Instrument and the promotion of the Team Europe policy, to build a strategic alliance of cooperation with partner countries through inclusive policies, alliances with middle-income countries, financial sustainability, debt relief, attention to migration and food security.
The meeting was also attended by the Director General of Sustainable Development Policies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gabriel Ferrero, and the Spanish Ambassador to Portugal, Marta Betanzos. On the Portuguese side, the Portuguese ambassador to Spain, Joao Mira-Gomes, and the vice-president of the Camoes Institute, Cristina Moniz, attended the meeting.
