The Diplomat
The Governing Council of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) plans to approve today, Thursday, the dismissal of Magdy Martínez Solimán as director of the agency, according to diplomatic sources.
Martínez Solimán, whose replacement was advanced yesterday by El Confidencial, took up the post less than a year ago, in September 2020, called by the then minister, Arancha González Laya, with whom he had a very direct relationship.
With the arrival of José Manuel Albares at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the appointment of Pilar Cancela as Secretary of State for Cooperation, the change in the direction of the AECID was expected.
Rumours yesterday suggested that Martínez Solimán’s replacement could be Antón Leis García, a name that was already being bandied about before his appointment, and who is well known to both Albares and Cancela. Antón Leis, a Galician by birth, is the Secretary General of PSOE Paris and represents PSOE Europe on the party’s Federal Committee. He is currently an advisor in the office of the Secretary General of the OECD in Paris.
The person who takes over the AECID will have to renew part of his or her team, among other things, because two of its area directors -Cristina Díaz and Carmen Castiella- are awaiting appointment as ambassadors to Kenya and Paraguay, respectively. Díaz is director of cooperation with Africa and Asia, and Castiella, director of cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean.
