Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced yesterday in Dakar that Spain and Senegal are going to sign a new Country Association Framework (MAP, by its acronym in Spanish) endowed with at least 180 million euros for the next four years that will be allocated, above all, to promote employment among young people in order to stop emigration. Yesterday Albares made an official visit to Senegal from Gambia, within the framework of an African tour focused, above all, on development cooperation and migration issues and which occurred a week after the minister's trip to Cape Verde. This is Albares' third visit to Senegal, a key and strategic partner for the stability of the entire region, with an important role in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in which Spain carries out relevant projects. of cooperation and where the first Cervantes Institute in Sub-Saharan Africa is located. The minister was received yesterday by the president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye - in office since the presidential elections on March 24 -, whom he invited to visit Spain to meet with the King and the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez -, and by his counterpart, Yassine Fall, with whom he already had a first telephone interview on April 29. “Excellent first meeting with my new counterpart from Senegal, Yassine Fall, in Dakar,” Albares declared through the X social network. “We have reviewed our political, economic, cultural and cooperation relations and agreed to continue developing them. Also financing for development, and support for ECOWAS,” he added. During his meeting with Fall, the Foreign Minister reported on the upcoming signing of the new MAP (the document that includes the development cooperation strategy for the period 2024-2028), which will be endowed with at least 180 million euros. This figure exceeds by 33 percent the amount of 135 million contributed by Spain to Senegal in the last four years. According to Foreign Affairs sources to the Europa Press agency, a large part of those 180 million will be allocated to training and employment projects for young people in order to discourage migration. Half of the Senegalese population is under 19 years of age. Senegal appears as a priority country in the Spanish Cooperation Master Plan for the period 2024/2017, which will be approved soon. The Plan raises the weight of West Africa as a whole to the same level as Latin America and places special emphasis, precisely, on promoting employment among youth, in addition to other objectives, such as food security, agriculture or water and sanitation. Circular migration During his meeting with Fall, Albares also addressed the issue of migration and the search for ways to promote circular migration (hiring at origin and subsequent return to Senegal), a topic he also spoke about this Wednesday in Banjul with his Gambian counterpart, Mamadou Tangara. According to Albares, the figures for circular migration between Spain and Senegal remain “very modest” and, therefore, the two ministers studied the possibility of extending this instrument (currently focused on the agricultural sector) to other areas, such as truck drivers, a profession currently in high demand in Spain. Likewise, Albares and Fall addressed the possibility of using Spanish cooperation funds to encourage the return of Senegalese emigrants who wish to return to their country "with the knowledge they have acquired" in Spain, "but who need some type of help," as declared by the minister. For her part, Minister Fall assured that Senegal wishes to “strengthen cooperation even further and do everything possible to cut off this irregular migratory flow to the Canary Islands at this time and direct people towards legal and regular migration routes, such as the new avenues we want to explore for circular migration.” Senegal is a country of origin and transit of the current wave of canoes to the Canary Islands. Nearly 36,400 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands in 2023, a good part of them from Senegal and Mauritania. According to data from the EU Border Agency (Frontex), irregular migrations increased, until last May, by more than 300 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Albares also addressed the immigration issue with the Minister of the Interior and Public Security of Senegal, Jean Baptiste Tine, with special attention to the cooperation between the Armed and Security Forces of the two countries "in the fight against mafias that traffic in people ", as reported by the minister through X. In fact, one of Albares' objectives in Senegal was to visit the members of the Civil Guard and National Police who collaborate with the Senegalese authorities, from the Port of Dakar, in the fight against human trafficking networks. The detachment has 33 members of the Civil Guard, in addition to five national police officers, boats, a helicopter and all-terrain vehicles for joint patrolling by land, sea and air, and, since last October 17, a CN-235 plane from the Civil Guard to patrol the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania. The minister also visited the Marfil Aerotactical Detachment, deployed by Spain in Dakar to contribute to strategic transportation capabilities in the region and provide support to the Spanish contingent of EUTM-Mali.
