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Madrid is adopting a distinctly different direction from several Western nations when it comes to migration policies and cooperation with the African continent.

Although countries like the USA, UK, France and Germany are cutting back their foreign assistance funding, the Spanish government continues dedicated to expanding its participation, albeit from a reduced baseline.

Current Programs

Recently, the Madrid has been hosting an African Union-backed "international gathering on persons of African origin". The African diaspora summit will explore reparative equity and the formation of a fresh assistance program.

This constitutes the newest evidence of how Spain's socialist-led government is working to enhance and broaden its involvement with the continent that sits merely a few kilometres to the southern direction, beyond the Gibraltar passage.

Strategic Framework

In July International Relations Head José Manuel Albares initiated a recent guidance panel of prominent intellectual, international relations and arts representatives, the majority of them African, to monitor the implementation of the thorough Madrid-Africa plan that his leadership released at the conclusion of the previous year.

Fresh consular offices below the Sahara desert, and cooperative ventures in enterprise and academic are scheduled.

Migration Management

The distinction between the Spanish method and that of other Western nations is not just in funding but in perspective and outlook – and especially noticeable than in addressing migration.

Like other European locations, Prime Minister Madrid's chief executive is exploring approaches to contain the arrival of unauthorized entrants.

"For us, the movement dynamic is not only a question of moral principles, solidarity and respect, but also one of rationality," the government leader commented.

More than 45,000 persons attempted the hazardous maritime passage from West African coastline to the island territory of the Canaries recently. Calculations of those who died while trying the crossing range between 1,400 to a astonishing 10,460.

Practical Solutions

Spain's leadership must house new arrivals, process their claims and oversee their integration into larger population, whether short-term or more permanent.

Nevertheless, in rhetoric distinctly separate from the hostile messaging that originates from numerous EU governments, the Spanish administration publicly recognizes the challenging monetary conditions on the ground in the West African region that force persons to endanger themselves in the attempt to attain the European continent.

And it is trying to exceed simply saying "no" to incoming migrants. Rather, it is developing creative alternatives, with a promise to foster movements of people that are secure, organized and routine and "mutually beneficial".

Commercial Cooperation

On his trip to the Mauritanian Republic last year, Sanchez highlighted the input that foreign workers make to the Iberian economic system.

The Spanish government finances training schemes for youth without work in nations including the West African country, especially for undocumented individuals who have been returned, to help them develop sustainable income sources in their native country.

And it has expanded a "rotational movement" initiative that offers persons from the region temporary permits to enter Spanish territory for limited periods of temporary employment, mostly in cultivation, and then come home.

Geopolitical Relevance

The core principle underlying the Spanish approach is that Spain, as the EU member state most proximate to the mainland, has an crucial domestic priority in Africa's progress toward equitable and enduring progress, and stability and safety.

The core justification might seem evident.

Yet of course previous eras had guided the Spanish nation down a distinctly separate route.

Other than a few Maghreb footholds and a compact tropical possession – presently autonomous the Central African nation – its colonial expansion in the historical period had mainly been directed overseas.

Forward Vision

The arts component includes not only dissemination of the national tongue, with an increased footprint of the Cervantes Institute, but also programmes to assist the mobility of academic teachers and investigators.

Defense collaboration, measures regarding environmental shifts, gender equality and an enhanced consular representation are predictable aspects in contemporary circumstances.

However, the strategy also lays very public stress it places on supporting democratic ideas, the pan-African body and, in especial, the West African regional organization the West African economic bloc.

This will be favorable governmental endorsement for the entity, which is now experiencing substantial difficulties after observing its five-decade milestone marred by the withdrawal of the Sahelian states – the West African nation, the West African state and the Sahel territory – whose governing armed forces have declined to adhere with its standard for political freedom and proper administration.

Meanwhile, in a communication targeted as much at Madrid's domestic audience as its sub-Saharan partners, the external affairs department stated "supporting the African diaspora and the struggle versus discrimination and immigrant hostility are also key priorities".

Fine words of course are only a beginning stage. But in contemporary pessimistic worldwide environment such discourse really does distinguish itself.