The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, received yesterday in Madrid his counterpart of Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Barbosa, on the eve of the meeting that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the African country, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, will hold today at the Moncloa Palace.

“Delighted to receive in Madrid my counterpart from Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Barbosa, after my recent visit to her country,” Albares declared through his official Twitter account. “We continued to deepen bilateral relations between Spain and Guinea-Bissau and our cooperation,” he continued. “We also addressed the challenges and opportunities in the region,” he added.

Albares visited Guinea-Bissau last January 12 as part of his second tour of Sub-Saharan Africa, which also included Niger and Nigeria. During his visit, the minister met with Suzi Barbosa and visited Spanish Cooperation projects. This country has held the rotating presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since last August.

Spain has maintained relations with Guinea-Bissau since its independence in 1974. Ties were strengthened after the opening of the Spanish Embassy in Bissau in 2007. The most relevant bilateral issues are immigration (the two countries maintain a new generation Migratory Cooperation Agreement since 2008) and fisheries (the new fisheries agreement 2019-2024 is of great importance for Spain because most of the licenses issued by the Guinea-Bissau authorities are granted to Spanish-flagged fishing vessels).

Bilateral relations in the economic and commercial sphere are limited, although the presence of Spanish companies is becoming increasingly noticeable, and Guinea-Bissau was listed as one of the priority countries in the first three Master Plans of Spanish Cooperation. Guinea-Bissau receives cooperation from Spanish civil society, from the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, Cantabria, Galicia and Extremadura, and from the European Union.