Sánchez will tour Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal next week

The Diplomat The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will carry out a tour of Africa next week, from August 27 to 29, which includes the countries of Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, in the midst of a migration crisis, especially on the route to the Canary Islands. In this way, Sánchez, who is resuming his official agenda after the weeks of vacation, will return to Mauritania seven months after going to Nouakchott with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, where they discussed strengthening cooperation with this African country with the aim of stopping the increase in illegal immigrants arriving in small boats, reports Europa Press. In this regard, the President of the Government announced on his February trip that Spain would mobilise more than 300 million euros for Mauritania in the coming years to curb the rise in irregular migration, an issue, he explained, that affects both countries. Specifically, Sánchez explained that, of the total figure, 200 million corresponded to promoting the investment of Spanish companies in Mauritania; 60 million would go to development projects during the year and another 50 million euros in financial cooperation for the African country. "We are going to strengthen our existing collaboration projects through border control and we are going to consider different formulas to facilitate regular migration," said Sánchez in a joint appearance with Von der Leyen and the Mauritanian president, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. The head of the Executive also announced on the official trip the opening of an extension of the Cervantes Institute in the capital, Nouakchott. In June, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, made another institutional trip to Gambia and Senegal, where he confirmed that Spain would allocate 180 million euros to development cooperation over the next four years, with a focus primarily on youth and employment. Among the issues discussed by his Senegalese counterpart, Yassine Fall, as well as with the country's president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye – it was the first contact of the Spanish Executive with the new Government after its election last March – the minister advocated exploring how to promote circular migration, that is, hiring at the source and subsequent return to Senegal. In this regard, they spoke of the possibility of including the driver sector, given the demand for truck drivers that exists in Spain. On the other hand, the head of Spanish diplomacy also met in Banjul with the president of Gambia, Adama Barrow, and they set the objective of promoting circular migration by hiring Gambians in their country of origin, in addition to continuing to work together in the fight against illegal immigration and mafias that traffic people. The second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, also traveled to Senegal and signed a memorandum of understanding to increase collaboration in the field of Labor Inspection with her Senegalese counterpart Yankoba Diémé. According to the Ministry in a statement, Díaz's department has reinforced work with other West African countries such as Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau or Togo and soon with Mauritania.

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