The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of Senegal, Macky Sall, yesterday reaffirmed their commitment to work in favor of “regular and orderly migration” and to fight “against clandestine emigration networks”.
The two leaders signed yesterday a joint declaration in Dakar -in the second and last stage of Pedro Sánchez’s tour of Angola and Senegal-, in which they congratulated themselves for “the excellent quality of the relations of friendship and cooperation” between the two countries, “which translate into a diversified cooperation and a convergence of points of view on multiple international issues”, and underlined “the integration of a strong Senegalese community residing in Spain”, which, with 71. 71,000 inhabitants, is the largest sub-Saharan African community in our country, “as well as the beneficial presence of the Spanish community in Senegal”.
They also expressed their satisfaction for “the establishment of mechanisms that favor a fruitful and mutually beneficial dialogue through the Joint Commission for Cooperation and political consultations that allow the promotion of a new dynamic of multiform cooperation between the two countries” and welcomed “the positive evolution of economic and trade relations between the two countries”.
In this regard, Sánchez reaffirmed “Spain’s willingness to support the implementation of the Emerging Senegal Plan, through a greater presence of Spanish companies to match the official relations between the two countries, also in accordance with the ambitions contained in the Third Africa Plan of Spain, which considers Senegal among the priority countries”. Yesterday began with a Spain-Senegal business forum in which the President praised Senegal’s economic reforms to encourage foreign investment and cited some sectors of particular relevance for the presence of Spanish companies, such as infrastructure, renewable energies and agribusiness. Pedro Sánchez was accompanied on this trip by representatives of the companies Elecnor, AEE Power, Airbus, TSK, Riu, Satec, Globaltec Desarrollos e Ingeniería, Redondo y García, Impulso y Consultoría and Grupo AGEM.
On the other hand, the two presidents assured that “migration can be a lever for prosperity, innovation and economic, social and cultural development in a globalized world” and, therefore, reaffirmed their “determination to work in favor of regular and orderly migration in accordance with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and to fight against clandestine migration networks”. On the occasion of this official visit and following the signing, in November 2020, of the Convention on Social Security, Spain and Senegal yesterday signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on migration management and governance and on safe, regular and orderly migration, as well as a Joint Declaration on the fight against irregular migration.
During his visit to Senegal, Sánchez visited the Guardia Civil detachment and the National Police Corps grouping deployed in Dakar and met with troops deployed in the framework of the MARFIL operation to support multinational operations in the Sahel. He also visited the future headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes in Dakar, which will be launched in the second half of the year and will be the first Cervantes center in Sub-Saharan Africa.
