Eduardo González
Development cooperation, the situation in the Sahel and the search for ways to promote regular migration, including the so-called “circular migration”, starred yesterday in the second stage of the first tour of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, by Sub-Saharan Africa, which began on Wednesday in Mauritania.
“Both in Senegal and Mauritania there has been a positive balance,” the minister told the press after meeting in Dakar with the Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, Tall Salai. “They are two great strategic partners of Spain in Africa and I have conveyed to both of them that Spain will continue to accompany these two countries in these difficult times, both from the point of view of stability and from the point of view of food security,” he continued. “I have been able to confirm that they also consider us a fundamental partner and will continue to cooperate with us on migration, on stability and, of course, on development cooperation,” he added.
Albares began his day yesterday at Dakar airport, where he visited the Spanish Air Force’s Marfil Detachment, which is involved in stabilization support work in the Sahel. “The security of the region is also our security. Cooperation between Spain and Senegal is key to contribute to peace in Africa,” he stated via his Twitter account. The minister also met with the surveillance and security devices of the Guardia Civil and the National Police assigned for surveillance and security work at the arsenal in the port of Dakar. “Their exemplary work of collaboration and cooperation with Senegal is essential to preserve human lives and fight human trafficking,” he said.
Later, the head of the Spanish diplomacy was received at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Senegal by his counterpart Tall Salai, with whom he closed the political consultations held these days by both countries. During this meeting, he told journalists, the two ministers discussed Spanish development cooperation, with special “emphasis on agricultural issues, economic development and opportunities for young people in Senegal”, and financial cooperation, including “investment in Senegal at reasonable rates and on favorable terms for Senegal”. The two heads of diplomacy also addressed “regional issues, very specifically the situation in the Sahel”, which is “very worrying, a focus of international jihadism and with a food crisis which, although it is a global crisis, evidently affects above all the Sahel”, explained Albares.
Migratory cooperation
Likewise, José Manuel Albares and Tall Salai discussed migratory cooperation and the need to face the foreseeable increase in pressure due to the food crisis. “We have agreed to continue working on legal migration channels and, most especially, circular migration channels,” the minister explained. Circular migration is a type of bilateral collaboration that makes it possible to regulate labor migration flows between two States through the selection of workers at origin and the regulation of working conditions and social rights of workers. In this regard, Albares admitted that the two parties still have to “define sectors, define regions, match supply with demand and define the need for labor with Senegalese workers”.
The Foreign Minister was also received yesterday by the President of Senegal, Macky Sall, with whom he discussed “the close cooperation between Spain and Senegal” and the need to promote “interregional dialogue with the African Union, which is currently presiding Senegal, in view of our Presidency of the EU,” he said via Twitter. As the minister explained to the press, the Senegalese leader presented “his ideas for Africa to be better inserted in international finance and in the world economy.” “In all these matters, he has had the support of Spain, as a permanent guest of the G20 and also in its capacity as a member of the EU and future EU Presidency,” he assured.
