The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, inaugurated yesterday the VII Meeting of the Africa Table, with which he addressed the development of the Government’s new strategy for Africa, as well as the pilot plan to promote Spanish investments in Senegal and the public policies for cultural and academic cooperation.
The Africa Table is a platform for the exchange of information and coordination between the Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Spanish civil society actors interested in relations with Africa. Representatives of NGOs, the business sector, the academic field, associations of the African diaspora and Afro-Spanish people participate in the Round Table.
The meeting was held at the Ministry’s headquarters in Marqués de Salamanca and was attended, representing civil society, by Oxfam-Intermon, Africa Activa, CEOE Internacional, Exporters and Investors Club, Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Escuela Complutense Africana, Fundación Alternativas and LemAfriq, according to Foreign Ministry in a press release.
The new strategy for Africa, declared the minister, “will inaugurate a new stage in relations between Spain and Africa based on the awareness that we share the same geopolitical space: we face challenges that we have to respond to and overcome together.” “We will do this by dialogue with our African partners and taking advantage of the best resources we have: the Spanish civil society of the associations and entities that deal with Africa,” added Albares.
Albares also highlighted the important role played by the African Union and subregional structures in the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law in the region and highlighted the efforts made during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU to strengthen relations between the Union European Union and the African countries, among which the Samoa Agreement stands out, which succeeds the Cotonou Agreement and which will guide cooperation between the European Union and the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific for the next twenty years, as well as the Agreement EU-Angola on Sustainable Investments and the Economic Partnership Agreement with Kenya.
In this VII Meeting of the Africa Table, there was also discussion about the execution of the pilot plan for the coordination of actors and instruments for the promotion of the Spanish business presence and investment in Senegal. The follow-up report on the Table’s proposals on public policies for cultural and academic cooperation was also presented and the progress of the ongoing thematic consultation for the preparation of proposals on human mobility, migration and refuge was addressed.
