The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, inaugurated yesterday a seminar organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the headquarters of the Ministry to advance in the design of a new cooperation program with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID).
“ECOWAS and its Member States are our natural partners, as we share challenges that, in a complex and changing international and regional context, require a concerted response,” said the Minister during the opening ceremony of the seminar, entitled Spain and ECOWAS: common challenges, shared opportunities, which began yesterday and will close today.
The seminar will be attended by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, together with Fatou Sou Sarr, ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs. Other representatives of the Spanish and ECOWAS authorities, ambassadors accredited in Spain and civil society personalities will also take part. The dialogue will be structured in four segments on economic and inclusive development, peace and security, democracy and human rights, and knowledge and promotion of Spanish.
In addition, Albares held a “constructive meeting” with Omar Touray yesterday. “Spain will continue to strengthen relations and cooperation with West African countries for peace, security and sustainable development of the region. Africa counts on Spain’s support,” he stated via Twitter.
ECOWAS, which groups fifteen West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo; apart from Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea Conakry, which are currently suspended), is a strategically important organization with which Spain maintains close cooperation relations. For this reason, a working meeting will also be held during the meeting to advance in the design of the new AECID cooperation program with ECOWAS, with the aim of launching a renewed and strengthened phase of collaboration of Spanish cooperation with the organization.
Last January, Albares met in Abuja (Nigeria), ECOWAS headquarters, with Omar Alieu Touray, with whom he signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral political consultations and a declaration of intent on future prospects for cooperation. At the end of the meeting, the Minister assured that Spain is “at the disposal of ECOWAS in matters such as energy and infrastructure at regional level” and announced an initial contribution of three million euros. After his visit to Nigeria, José Manuel Albares went to Guinea-Bissau, the country currently holding the rotating presidency of ECOWAS.
In addition, Spain has an extensive cooperation program with ECOWAS based on the memorandum of understanding signed in 2005 and further developed in the 2009 joint declaration. Under this program, Spain has committed to transferring resources worth more than 230 million euros, of which 188 million have been disbursed in the areas of agriculture, rural development, infrastructure, renewable energies, migration and gender.
