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Madrid is adopting a noticeably unique course from numerous developed states when it comes to movement regulations and engagement with the African continent.

Although nations including the USA, UK, France and Germany are slashing their development aid budgets, Madrid remains committed to enhancing its involvement, albeit from a lower starting point.

Recent Developments

Recently, the Madrid has been welcoming an continent-endorsed "international gathering on persons of African origin". The African diaspora summit will discuss reparative equity and the establishment of a innovative support mechanism.

This represents the newest evidence of how Spain's socialist-led government is attempting to strengthen and expand its cooperation with the mainland that lies just a few kilometres to the southern direction, beyond the Gibraltar passage.

Governmental Approach

This past summer External Affairs Minister the Spanish diplomat established a new advisory council of distinguished academic, foreign service and arts representatives, the majority of them African, to oversee the delivery of the thorough Spanish-African initiative that his leadership released at the close of the prior year.

Fresh consular offices in sub-Saharan regions, and partnerships in commerce and academic are planned.

Immigration Control

The contrast between the Spanish method and that of different European countries is not just in expenditure but in attitude and philosophy – and particularly evident than in handling immigration.

Comparable with other European locations, Administration Head Pedro Sanchez is looking for ways to contain the entry of undocumented migrants.

"From our perspective, the immigration situation is not only a issue of humanitarian values, solidarity and dignity, but also one of rationality," the government leader stated.

More than 45,000 people attempted the hazardous maritime passage from the Atlantic African shore to the overseas region of the Canaries the previous year. Estimates of those who perished while trying the crossing extend from 1,400 to a overwhelming 10,460.

Workable Approaches

The Spanish administration must house recent entrants, review their cases and handle their incorporation into larger population, whether temporary or more permanent.

Nonetheless, in rhetoric markedly different from the adversarial communication that emanates from several Western administrations, the Spanish administration publicly recognizes the hard economic realities on the ground in Western Africa that compel individuals to jeopardize their safety in the effort to reach the European continent.

Furthermore, it attempts to exceed simply refusing entry to incoming migrants. Rather, it is creating innovative options, with a promise to promote movements of people that are safe, systematic and standardized and "jointly profitable".

Commercial Cooperation

While traveling to the Mauritanian Republic recently, the Spanish leader emphasized the input that immigrants provide for the national finances.

The Spanish government supports skill development initiatives for jobless young people in states like the Senegalese Republic, especially for unauthorized persons who have been repatriated, to support them in establishing viable new livelihoods in their native country.

And it has expanded a "rotational movement" programme that gives West Africans short-term visas to enter Spanish territory for limited periods of periodic labor, primarily in farming, and then come home.

Geopolitical Relevance

The core principle supporting the Spanish approach is that Spain, as the EU member state nearest to the region, has an vital national concern in the continent's advancement toward inclusive and sustainable development, and peace and security.

This fundamental reasoning might seem obvious.

Yet of course history had taken the Spanish nation down a noticeably unique course.

Apart from a few Maghreb footholds and a compact tropical possession – today's independent the Central African nation – its colonial expansion in the 1500s and 1600s had mainly been directed toward the Americas.

Forward Vision

The cultural dimension includes not only dissemination of the national tongue, with an expanded presence of the Cervantes Institute, but also programmes to assist the transfer of educational instructors and scholars.

Protection partnership, measures regarding environmental shifts, female advancement and an enhanced consular representation are unsurprising components in today's environment.

Nonetheless, the approach also puts notable focus it assigns to supporting democratic ideas, the African Union and, in particular, the sub-Saharan cooperative body Ecowas.

This constitutes positive official support for the organization, which is now experiencing substantial difficulties after seeing its 50th anniversary year spoiled by the departure of the desert region countries – the Sahel country, Mali and the Nigerien Republic – whose ruling military juntas have refused to comply with its agreement regarding democratic governance and effective leadership.

Simultaneously, in a statement aimed similarly at the national citizenry as its sub-Saharan partners, the foreign ministry said "helping persons of African origin and the struggle versus discrimination and anti-foreigner sentiment are also crucial objectives".

Fine words of course are only a first step. But in today's sour international climate such discourse really does appear distinctive.