<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Queen Letizia will visit Cape Verde from March 24 to 27 for her tenth cooperation trip, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday.</strong></h4> Queen Letizia, who will be accompanied by the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados Galiano, will be able to learn about the work that Spanish Cooperation is carrying out in Cape Verde in the areas of gender equality, comprehensive development (reducing inequalities and localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the blue economy (sustainable use of marine resources). This is the Queen's tenth cooperation trip, reviving a tradition initiated by Queen Sofía in 1997. Previously, Queen Letizia traveled to Honduras and El Salvador (2015), Senegal (2017), the Dominican Republic and Haiti (2018), Mozambique (2019), Honduras again (2020), Paraguay (late 2021), Mauritania (May 2022), Colombia (June 2023), and Guatemala (June 2024). The purpose of these visits is to support Spanish cooperation, learn firsthand about the work carried out by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) and Spanish non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and verify the effectiveness of Spanish-funded projects and their direct impact on beneficiaries. Cooperation relations between the Republic of Cape Verde and the Kingdom of Spain date back more than forty years, with the entry into force on November 26, 1979, of the General Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation, signed in Madrid on June 18 of that year. Since 2018, Spain has considered Cape Verde a strategic partner, due to its proximity to the Canary Islands. In addition, Spanish Cooperation itself has been operating in this country for more than 20 years. Cape Verde has had a Technical Cooperation Office in Praia since 2007 and is considered a priority country in the Fifth Master Plan 2024-2027 for Spanish Development Cooperation. On December 20, 2021, during the 5th Joint Cooperation Committee between Spain and Cape Verde, the two countries signed a new Advanced Cooperation Agreement (ACA) for the period 2022-2030, authorized by the Council of Ministers in March 2022. The current Spain-Cape Verde Cooperation Program 2021-2024, in line with the Advanced Cooperation Agreement, includes over ten million euros in AECID funding for projects on gender equality, economic growth and employment, climate change, and support for Cape Verde's Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development. Projects highlight support for women in the areas of political participation, job placement, economic autonomy, and combating gender-based violence; assistance to the agricultural sector and the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of the tourism and fishing sectors; and strengthening national capacities in innovation and research. In June 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, made an official visit to Cape Verde, where he was received by the President of the Republic, José Maria Neves; the Prime Minister, José Ulisses Correia e Silva; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rui Alberto de Figueiredo. During those meetings, Albares reiterated that Cape Verde is a "strategic partner" for Spain in the area of development cooperation.
