Spain and Senegal launch the 'Alliance Africa Avanza' to promote investments that generate growth and employment

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, accompanied by Ministers Carlos Cuerpo and Elma Saiz, attends the signing of collaboration agreements between Spain and Senegal (Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo)

The executive announced today the launch of the "Africa Moves Forward Partnership", a project aimed at promoting sustainable growth in West Africa and increasing opportunities for its youth. The announcement was made in the framework of the official trip of the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, to Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal.

The Minister for Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, was in charge of presenting the project in Dakar (Senegal), and has highlighted the importance of promoting trade and investment with Africa to take advantage of its vast human capital and promote economic growth.

Carlos Cuerpo pointed out that "it is necessary to strengthen our economic and trade cooperation with a joint strategic framework, to promote initiatives that will allow us to move together towards more robust, sustainable and fairer growth".

The Alliance, together with the Senegalese government, aims to establish a permanent framework for collaboration, which will favour the greatest possible impact of transformative investments in the region. The objective is to identify and launch investment projects by Spanish companies in sectors with high productive, employment generation or innovation potential, such as telecommunications, finance, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure.

The initiative is part of the Government of Spain's global strategy to address joint challenges in a sustainable manner, and reaffirms Spain's commitment to continue supporting the continent in the face of challenges such as terrorism, climate change and the sustainability of its public debt.

The Alliance will seek to mobilise both public and private funding. Resources for projects can come from public financial instruments such as the Fund for the Internationalisation of Enterprise (FIEM) and the Fund for the Promotion of Development (FONPRODE), and also through multilateral channels via development banks in Europe and Africa.

Senegal, as a co-proponent country, will host the headquarters of the planned Alliance secretariat, and will be where the first investment and training projects will be launched.

One of the projects already identified is "Tierra Firme", a training programme that aims to provide professional development opportunities for 500 young Senegalese, training them for stable employment opportunities identified by Spanish companies established in the country.

The Alliance will also support Spanish satellite operator Hispasat's digitalisation proposal to boost internet access. Bridging the digital divide will bring new opportunities, such as tele-education and telemedicine in rural areas of Senegal.

In addition, within the framework of the Alliance, a joint declaration was signed between the Spanish Development Finance Company, COFIDES, and the Sovereign Fund for Strategic Investments of Senegal, FONSIS, to promote Spanish private investment in West Africa.

The project highlights Spain's commitment to Africa, which has enormous development potential with a population estimated to represent a quarter of the global population by the middle of this century, and is home to a third of the key mineral reserves for the green transition and has a privileged geographical position for trade.

This is a milestone that decisively reinforces Spain's commitment to the continent, which has been steadily materialising in recent years. Since the approval of the latest roadmap to guide the relationship with Africa, known as the III Africa Plan, in 2019, COFIDES accompanied Spanish companies' investments in 12 projects in Africa in the agri-food, engineering and automotive sectors, among others, for €69 million. In addition, the export credit agency CESCE has approved 95 export credit insurance operations for Spanish companies in 23 African countries, for a total of close to €2.54 million.

Non official translation