The Diplomat
Spain has signed the new Advanced Cooperation Agreement (ACA) with Cape Verde, focusing mainly on gender equality, economic growth and sustainable ocean management.
The agreement was signed last Wednesday by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation (SECI), Pilar Cancela Rodríguez, on the occasion of her trip to Cape Verde, her first official visit to a sub-Saharan African country. Cape Verde is considered an “advanced cooperation country” in the V Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation and this ACA establishes the strategic framework for development cooperation between the two countries to advance in achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.
“After almost fifteen years since the last meeting of the Spanish-Cabodian Joint Commission, today we renew our commitment to cooperate towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda,” said Cancela. “We thus begin a stage of renewed, strategic cooperation with a shared agenda, where the principles of aid effectiveness become more meaningful than ever,” she added.
This new ACA focuses on gender equality (with three empowerment projects focusing on economic aspects, political issues in favor of women and girls, and the social and economic promotion of LGTBI groups), the promotion of sustainable economic growth and full employment, and the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.
“The results achieved by these projects will be a reference for the rest of the African countries,” said Cancela. Likewise, Spanish Cooperation will continue to work together with Cape Verde for the recovery of the pandemic, the environment, and the strengthening of capacities for job creation.
Since 2007, Spanish Cooperation has contributed nearly 90 million euros to Cape Verde, contributed by all the actors that are part of the Spanish cooperation system, such as the General State Administration – in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the AECID and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation – and the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Galicia.
Apart from this, in recent years Spanish Cooperation has increased the funds allocated to Cape Verde, which currently amount to more than 6.5 million euros in interventions that are under implementation or in their start-up phase. In addition, until 2012, Spanish Cooperation contributed more than 20.5 million to the Budget Support Group for environmental improvement and the promotion of the blue economy.
