The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, presented yesterday at La Moncloa Palace the document Focus Africa 2023, the Government’s action program to “turn this decade into Spain’s decade in Africa”.
The event, which was held semi-presentially, was also attended by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya; her Senegalese counterpart, Aissatou Tall Sall; the Executive Director of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina; and the CEO of Elecnor, Rafael Martín de Bustamante.
“We want to turn this decade, which we started in a somewhat complex way with the pandemic, into the decade of Spain in Africa”, said Sánchez during the presentation of the event. “That is the soul of the Focus Africa 2023 program. In a sentence: that Spain is increasingly closer to Africa and Africa increasingly closer to Spain and also to Europe”, he continued. “Africa can count on Spain and on Spain’s voice in the European Union. In fact, we want to lead the European Union’s action in Africa“, added the President of the Government.
According to Sánchez, the Focus Africa 2023 program is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and with the objectives of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. “Our objectives and interests coincide practically completely. That is why the priorities captured in Focus Africa are the same priorities that Africans have set for themselves“, he added.
Focus Africa 2023 is an action program closely linked to the III Africa Plan and to the priorities of the External Action Strategy 2021-2024 as far as Africa is concerned. The document, prepared by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Industry and Trade, Economy, Interior, Defense and Inclusion, lists a series of sectoral priorities for action, such as peace and security, sustainable economy, the fight against climate change, regional integration, trade promotion, business presence, migration management and gender equality. It also promotes the industrialization of the African continent and aims, in this sense, to attract the interest of Spanish companies in the infrastructure plans implemented by the Government. The document chooses Senegal and Morocco as “pilot countries” for the implementation of the work program and cites, in line with the 3rd Africa Plan, a series of “anchor countries” (Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa) and “priority countries” (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania).
President of Ghana
An hour before the presentation of the Focus Africa 2023, Pedro Sánchez received at the Moncloa Complex Nana Akufo-Addo, who, in addition to being President of Ghana, is the current President of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The African leader also participated in a business meeting and will be received today in audience by King Philip VI.
During the meeting, Sánchez highlighted Spain’s interest in increasing its “effective presence in West Africa” and mentioned the increase in trade relations between the two countries in recent years and the more than 20,000 Ghanaian citizens currently residing in Spain. He also recalled that Ghana was the first country to receive vaccines through the COVAX initiative.
In terms of peace and security, Pedro Sanchez highlighted the bilateral collaboration in defense, border control and the fight against terrorism and recalled that Spain sends, every six months, deep-sea patrol boats to carry out surveillance and training tasks for the Ghanaian Navy. “Spain deeply values the institutional stability of Ghana” and, for this reason, includes Ghana among the ten priority African countries of the Spanish strategy for the continent, as it appears in the III Africa Plan and in the Focus Africa 2023.
