Portal de Noticias del Gobierno de Canarias: Estrategia Canarias-África

The President of the Canary Islands emphasizes that the initiative aims to seek joint solutions to «shared challenges»

Fernando Clavijo advocates for opening a stage of priority relations with Morocco

The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has announced the start of work aimed at developing a Canary Islands-Africa Strategy, which aims to contribute to the social and economic growth of both territories, speaking and listening from both shores. Through this initiative, the archipelago seeks to position itself as a platform for the European Union and Spain with the neighboring continent, promoting institutional, economic, service, and cooperation alliances, and at the same time, creating a sustainable economic growth space that provides joint solutions to shared challenges.

In this regard, the president emphasized the interest of the autonomous community in relying on a strategy towards Africa not only because of the geographical proximity and neighborly relations, but also because of the bridges of understanding and collaboration that the archipelago has always maintained with the countries of the African region. This is the first time that the Canary Islands have designed a plan to identify lines of action that attract the interest of both parties, a process that will be constantly adapted to fit into a future in constant construction.

In this sense, the Government is aware that developing a strategy towards Africa, identifying lines of action to achieve specific results, is not a simple task and requires addressing them with a capacity for continuous adjustment and adaptation. Its priority, added the president at Casa África, has been to understand and recognize the concerns of the African countries visited by the Government of the Canary Islands, and its intention is to «provide a comprehensive response to all that we have learned and heard.»

In this way, working from both territories, Fernando Clavijo emphasized, joint responses can be provided to challenges of interest to both the Canary Islands and the African countries in the nearest surroundings, promoting opportunities that benefit both parties.

The archipelago wants to take advantage of its strategic geographical position to consolidate itself as a bridge between Africa and Europe and strengthen cooperation to create new economic and social opportunities, the Canarian president stated at the inauguration of the forum organized by Prensa

Ibérica-La Provincia and sponsored by Proexca

According to the president, it is necessary to give impetus to the cooperation policies developed by the European Union and Spain in Africa, although the proximity and influence of the events and circumstances that occur in the countries closest to the African continent on the Canary Islands also require direct involvement of the archipelago. To advance this initiative, a governance body, the Canary Islands-Africa Strategy Council, will be set up, sponsored by the Presidency of the Government and its coordination will directly depend on the Directorate General of Relations with Africa.

In this regard, he highlighted several aspects that help understand why the Canary Islands should rely on a strategy towards Africa. The first of them, which defines all others, refers to geographical proximity. Derived from this initial consideration, he pointed out the importance of territorial integration as a European region close to the continent; likewise, Fernando Clavijo understands that the Canary Islands must undertake to create a space of economic prosperity, sustainability, and peace, supported by the capacities that can be transferred to the countries in our environment, as well as offering our competitive advantages, from legal security to infrastructure.

Joint work

The Government of the Canary Islands wants to establish these strategic lines of action by listening, sitting down to talk with these countries, and working jointly so that lines of action can be established to improve the economic and social conditions in those countries and also contribute to the growth of Canarian companies.

Thus, among the priority objectives of the Canary Islands-Africa Strategy is to strengthen territorial and neighborly cooperation and, with the support of the European Union, increase cooperation in innovation, competitiveness, sustainable development, energy efficiency, and green, blue, and circular economy.

Also, in this mutual collaboration, this line of action represents an opportunity to diversify the Canarian economy and promote the internationalization of Canarian companies in Africa, while promoting new opportunities that generate mutual benefit in sectors such as tourism, technology, fishing, renewables, etc.

Regarding geographical priorities, the Canary Islands have always been clear about their geographical sphere of influence, and in this sense, connectivity will always be a challenge. In any case, the Government announced its interest in having a strategic consideration in the relationship with Morocco. In addition, Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, Gambia, on the one hand, and Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Guinea Bissau are and will continue to be preferred countries in our cooperation with Africa.

Roundtable

After the presentation by the head of the Canarian Executive of the Canary Islands-Africa Strategy, a roundtable took place to discuss the possibilities that open up with this joint work line, with the participation of the Director General of Relations with Africa, Luis Padilla; the President of the Spain-Mauritania Bilateral Business Committee, Ana Suárez; the Rector of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Lluís Serra; the President of the Federation of African Associations in the Canary Islands, Kingsley Odiesi; and the Vice President of the Coordinator of Organizations for the Development of the Canary Islands, Maribel Monzón.

During the course of this roundtable, videos were shown by the Vice President of the Hispanic-Moroccan Court of Arbitration and General Director of the Family Business Institute of Morocco, Houda Benghazi; the President of the Chamber of Commerce Spain in Senegal, Rafael Rodríguez; and the General Director of Nuakchot Business School (NBS) Mauritania, Fatma Bneijara. This space was moderated by Sustainability expert Adriana Regidor.