Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will make an official visit tomorrow to Cape Verde, one of the priority countries for Spanish foreign action in Sub-Saharan Africa for being a “reference” in the subcontinent in terms of democratic governance, rule of law. , respect for rights and freedoms and dynamism of civil society.
Albares will travel to the African country at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, according to the agenda of the head of Spanish diplomacy. Sources from the Ministry contacted by The Diplomat could not provide more details about the visit, but, in any case, it will be a very short trip, since Albares must be in Madrid on Wednesday morning to attend the ceremony of imposition of decorations of the Royal Order of Civil Merit on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Proclamation of the King.
Spain and Cape Verde have maintained diplomatic relations since December 21, 1977. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bilateral relations are in excellent health, after the qualitative leap produced by the visit to Madrid of the then prime minister (and current president), José María Neves, in March 2007, in which important agreements were signed on cooperation in migration matters, international judicial cooperation, joint surveillance of maritime spaces and the opening of a Spanish Embassy in Praia was approved since July of that same year.
Furthermore, in recent years, exchanges of visits and economic relations have been reinforced with the signing of a new Agreement to avoid Double Taxation and Tax Evasion, signed in June 2017 and which came into force in January 2021.
Spain places Cape Verde among the priorities of its foreign action in Sub-Saharan Africa for several reasons: firstly, Cape Verde has become “a reference in the Sub-Saharan African subcontinent in terms of democratic governance, rule of law, respect for rights and freedoms and dynamism of civil society”, according to Foreign Ministry. Likewise, the Spanish Government values Cape Verde’s commitment to promoting sustainable development and the fight against poverty and its progress in economic and social matters (reflected in its basic indicators and in its access, since January 1, 2008, to the group of Middle Income countries).
Additionally, in Spain there resides a Cape Verdean community made up of more than 4,600 people, according to the latest data from January 2022. The largest group is in Madrid, with more than 1,600 people, followed by Galicia, with almost 800. In the province From León there are more than 500 Cape Verdeans.
Precisely, the Cape Verdean community was one of the objectives of the visit made at the beginning of last April to Spain by President José María Neves, who was received by King Felipe VI and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. That was his first visit to Spain since he took office in November 2021. His predecessor in the Presidency, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, visited Spain twice: in November 2015 and in March 2017.
During their last visit to Madrid, Sánchez and Neves addressed the strengthening of bilateral relations in areas such as development cooperation and the blue economy, especially water treatment and sustainable fishing. They also shared the firm commitment of both Governments to the fight against climate change, an issue of vital importance for an island country like Cape Verde, and discussed the challenges that West Africa is facing due to instability in the Sahel.
During this visit, José Manuel Albares received the Minister of Foreign Business, Cooperation and Regional Integration of the African country, Rui Alberto de Figueiredo Soares. Albares and Figueiredo held a previous bilateral meeting in November 2022, within the framework of the Alliance of Civilizations Summit held in Marrakech.
Furthermore, Spanish Cooperation has been operating in Cape Verde for more than 20 years, which was a priority country for Spanish Cooperation until 2012 and has had a Technical Cooperation Office in Praia since 2007. Cape Verde is included in the V Plan 2018-2021 Director of Spanish Development Cooperation as a “country of advanced cooperation”.
On December 20, 2021, the two countries signed a new Advanced Cooperation Agreement (ACA). Precisely, on April 11, the Cape Verde-Spain Bipartite Committee met for the first time, at the headquarters of the Cape Verdean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to monitor the ACA.
