The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs celebrated yesterday the Africa Day with the traditional reception of the Minister, Arancha González Laya, to the African ambassadors and with an intense bilateral agenda of the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallach, in Guinea-Bissau.
On the one hand, the Palacio de Viana hosted the traditional ceremony to celebrate Africa Day with the participation of Arancha González Laya, 24 African heads of mission resident in Madrid and collaborators of the Ministry. During her speech, González Laya assured that “Africa is today, more than ever, at the center of Spanish foreign policy” and that the Ministry’s determination to “consolidate African policy as a State policy is already a reality”.
In this regard, the minister recalled the recent publication of the Africa 2023 Focus, the action program for the implementation of the 3rd Africa Plan during this legislature, which contains more than 250 actions within the framework of seven thematic priorities. She also pointed out the important agenda of official visits to Africa that have been carried out over the last year by the President of the Government, the Minister and the State Secretary.
On the African side, the Ambassador of Gabon, Patrick Arthur Moukala, as dean of the African ambassadors, and the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Louise Nzanga Ramazani, as the rotating chair of the African Union, took the floor. The African ambassadors thanked the celebration of the event and recognized the important contributions of Spain in favor of development, governance and peace and stability on the continent and expressed their hopes that our country will maintain and strengthen its commitment to Africa.
For her part, Cristina Gallach declared yesterday, during the presentation of the annual report on the African continent of the Alternativas Foundation (entitled Joint Challenges for Africa and Europe under the pandemic), that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has “relaunched all political, diplomatic, security and cultural efforts with Africa”.
Gallach made these declarations by videoconference from Guinea-Bissau, in the framework of the tour she is carrying out this week in this country and in Ivory Coast, mainly focused on immigration and security issues. In Guinea-Bissau, the Secretary of State was received by the President, Umaro Sissoco, with whom she discussed the implementation of a legal framework that provides legal certainty and favors foreign investment and talked about other issues, such as the regional situation in the Sahel and the Gulf of Guinea and the opportunities for legal migration, according to Foreign Affairs via Twitter.
She also met with the Prime Minister, Nuno Gomes Nabiam, to address “the great potential” of Spanish companies in the “key sectors” of energy, tourism, and agri-food, and met with the Minister of Finance, João Alaje Mamadú Fadia, with whom she reached an agreement for “a debt swap in favor of a voluntary contribution of six million dollars to the World Food Program for feeding schoolchildren”.
Gallach also met with the Minister of the Interior, Botche Cande, with whom she discussed the fight “against irregular migration” and Spain’s cooperation to “strengthen Guinean maritime and land surveillance capacities”. The day was completed with a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Suzi Barbosa, who was in Madrid last January and with whom she discussed the promotion of investments in agriculture, fisheries, tourism and energy, cooperation in maritime and land security and cultural cooperation through the granting of scholarships.
