The Diplomat
The State Secretary for International Cooperation, Ángeles Moreno Bau, met yesterday, by telematic means, with the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Müller, to try to coordinate the priorities of the two countries and the European Union in the field of international cooperation for development.
Specifically, according to a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issues such as migration and development in the Maghreb, Sahel and West Africa, a key issue for Spain and the EU, were discussed, as well as actions in the Southern Neighbourhood, digitalisation as an engine for growth and the facilitation of vaccines against HIV/AIDS in developing countries.
The State Secretary invited Germany, which is playing an increasingly active role on the African continent, to join the “Team Europe” initiative on migration and development, recently launched by Spain to cooperate more strategically in the Maghreb, the Sahel and West Africa.
Likewise, Ángeles Moreno explained Spain’s interest in prioritising the planning of 10 percent of the funds of the European Union’s new Neighbourhood and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) for migration issues, coordinated by Europe and the Member States. In this context, he expressed the need to ensure adequate funding for actions related to the different migratory routes, including those of greatest interest to Spain.
At the European level, the two high-ranking officials shared the interests of cooperation in digitalisation for development. Spain and Germany are part of the group of EU Member States working on digital education projects in Africa. The two countries discussed the extension of this line of action to Latin America and the Caribbean.
On the fight against COVID-19, the need to strengthen coordination in the European Union to reinforce multilateral initiatives such as COVAX, which has already begun distributing vaccines in developing countries, was discussed, and the commitment of the two countries to universal and equitable access to vaccines was reiterated.
In addition, Ángeles Moreno Bau stressed the importance of strengthening European solidarity for vaccination in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that accounts for 30 percent of the total number of victims of the pandemic.
The State Secretary and the German minister finally reviewed the bilateral relations between the two countries, with the possible holding this year of a new Bilateral Summit and the German-Spanish Forum, not forgetting the cultural component. Spain will be the guest of honour at the Frankfurt International Book Fair in 2022.
