The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday discussed food security and stability in the Sahel with the highest authorities of Mauritania, as part of his first tour of sub-Saharan Africa.
Albares was received at the Presidential Palace by the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Cheikh Al-Ghazwani, with whom he discussed areas of cooperation between the two countries and ways to broaden their horizons, according to the Mauritanian news agency AMI. For his part, the minister reported via his official Twitter account that he had conveyed to the president Spain’s commitment “to continue supporting Mauritania to face together common challenges such as food security and climate change.” The meeting was attended, among others, by the Mauritanian ambassador to Spain, Kane Boubakar; the Spanish ambassador to Mauritania, Miriam Álvarez de la Rosa; and the director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Antón Reis.
Previously, the minister held a “fruitful” meeting with his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Nouakchott, in which the two discussed bilateral relations, “food security and the stability of the Sahel,” Albares said via the same social network. “We continue to deepen the strong ties of cooperation between Spain and Mauritania,” he added.
José Manuel Albares then participated in a meeting with the executive secretary of the G-5 Sahel, Eric Tiaré, and with the president of the G5 Women’s Platform, Diyé Ba, at the headquarters of this organization in Nouakchott. “We discussed common challenges in the region, such as the fight against human trafficking, terrorism and climate change. We support peace, stability and development in the Sahel,” the minister said via Twitter.
Later, the Foreign minister visited several projects of Spanish cooperation, in Nouakchott, such as the center of the National Society of Fish Distribution, one of the priority actions of AECID in the country, which contributes, since 2012, “to improve the nutrition of the population, increasing from 4 to 16 kilograms per year and person the consumption of fish,” as reported by Albares. “Our cooperation is committed to food security in the world,” he added.
Mauritania, located just 900 kilometers from the Canary coasts, maintains very close relations with Spain in matters such as fishing, development cooperation, the fight against irregular immigration and defense and the fight against terrorism. In addition, Mauritania has been a priority country for Spanish Cooperation since 1995 and is listed in the AECID directory within the group of Least Developed Countries of Association. Queen Doña Letizia visited the country on May 31 and June 2, on her seventh cooperation trip since 2015.
At the end of his stay in Mauritania, José Manuel Albares traveled to Senegal, the second stage of the tour, which began yesterday with a visit to the Cervantes Institute center in Dakar, inaugurated by the Queen last December and which represents the first headquarters of the Institute in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the Minister is scheduled to visit the detachment of the Ivory Air Force at Dakar airport and the Civil Guard and National Police forces assigned to surveillance and security work at the arsenal in the port of Dakar. He will also hold a meeting with President Macky Sall at the Palace of the Republic and a lunch with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, Aissata Tall Sall. The visit coincides with the holding of political consultations between the two countries, which will be closed by the two ministers, and with Senegal’s presidency of the African Union.
