Spain strengthens ties with the African continent ahead of the next Spanish Presidency of the European Union

Commitment to the region

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation has toured West Africa, visiting Niger, Nigeria and Guinea Bissau.

With this trip, Jose Manuel Albares underlines the importance that Spain attaches to a region that faces multiple challenges such as terrorism, poverty, climate change, food insecurity, the fight against human trafficking, the energy crisis and organized crime. The tour has also served to deepen the bilateral relations of Spain with each of the three countries visited.

The African tour started in Niamey, the capital of Niger, where he was received by the president Mohamed Bazoum. Later, in the meeting with his counterpart Hassoumi Massaoudou, both ministers deepened bilateral relations and cooperation. In this area, they signed the new Country Association Framework that will cover the period 2023-2027 and that will govern the cooperation with this priority country for Spanish Cooperation, which has been present there since 2007. During his stay in Niger, José Manuel Albares visited the project GAR-SI SAHEL, who leads the Civil Guard with support from other European bodies, and traveled to the village of Ganguel, where Spanish Cooperation works to improve the food security of local communities.

In Nigeria, the Minister Albares and his counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama They addressed issues such as energy, food insecurity, migration and the fight against terrorism. On the other hand, the head of Spanish diplomacy held a working meeting with the minister of Nigerian Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in which he was accompanied by representatives of the main Spanish companies in the sector. Also in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, Minister Albares met with the Gambian diplomat Omar Touray, new president of the Commission of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS).

The last leg of the African tour of José Manuel Albares has been in Guinea Bissau, where she met with her counterpart, Suzi Barboza, and was received by the president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and for the prime minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam, to whom he conveyed the decision of the Spanish Government to resume development cooperation with the country, suspended for a decade. In Bissau, the capital, the minister visited two projects currently financed with funds from the AECID at the Simao Mendes National Hospital.