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Spain is charting a distinctly different direction from several developed states when it comes to immigration strategies and cooperation with the African mainland.

While countries like the United States, Britain, French Republic and Federal Republic of Germany are cutting back their development aid budgets, Madrid continues dedicated to increasing its involvement, albeit from a modest foundation.

Recent Developments

Currently, the capital city has been accommodating an continent-endorsed "international gathering on people of African descent". The Madrid African conference will explore restorative justice and the creation of a fresh assistance program.

This demonstrates the most recent sign of how the Spanish administration is seeking to deepen and expand its cooperation with the region that rests only a short distance to the southern direction, beyond the Gibraltar passage.

Policy Structure

In July Foreign Minister the Spanish diplomat established a fresh consultative body of distinguished academic, international relations and arts representatives, the majority of them from Africa, to monitor the delivery of the detailed Spanish-African initiative that his administration unveiled at the end of last year.

Additional diplomatic missions below the Sahara desert, and partnerships in enterprise and education are arranged.

Migration Management

The difference between the Spanish method and that of different European countries is not just in spending but in attitude and mindset – and particularly evident than in addressing immigration.

Comparable with elsewhere in Europe, Prime Minister the Spanish premier is seeking methods to manage the influx of unauthorized entrants.

"From our perspective, the immigration situation is not only a matter of ethical standards, solidarity and dignity, but also one of reason," the government leader commented.

Exceeding 45,000 people undertook the dangerous ocean journey from Africa's west coast to the overseas region of the Canary Islands recently. Approximations of those who died while undertaking the journey vary from 1,400 to a overwhelming 10,460.

Effective Measures

Madrid's government must house fresh migrants, evaluate their applications and oversee their integration into broader community, whether temporary or more long-lasting.

Nevertheless, in language distinctly separate from the hostile messaging that originates from numerous EU governments, the Sanchez government frankly admits the hard economic realities on the region in the West African region that force persons to risk their lives in the effort to reach EU territory.

Furthermore, it attempts to transcend simply refusing entry to incoming migrants. Instead, it is developing creative alternatives, with a pledge to foster human mobility that are protected, systematic and standardized and "mutually beneficial".

Financial Collaboration

During his visit to Mauritania the previous year, Sanchez stressed the input that immigrants contribute to the national finances.

The Spanish government finances educational programs for jobless young people in states like the Senegalese Republic, especially for unauthorized persons who have been returned, to assist them in creating viable new livelihoods in their homeland.

Furthermore, it increased a "cyclical relocation" initiative that gives West Africans short-term visas to come to Spain for defined timeframes of seasonal work, primarily in farming, and then return.

Strategic Importance

The core principle supporting Spain's engagement is that the European country, as the European country nearest to the continent, has an vital national concern in the continent's advancement toward equitable and enduring progress, and tranquility and protection.

That basic rationale might seem obvious.

Nevertheless the past had directed the Iberian state down a quite different path.

Other than a several North African presences and a minor equatorial territory – currently sovereign the Central African nation – its territorial acquisition in the 1500s and 1600s had mostly been oriented overseas.

Prospective Direction

The arts component encompasses not only dissemination of the national tongue, with an expanded presence of the Spanish cultural organization, but also schemes to support the mobility of academic teachers and researchers.

Protection partnership, measures regarding environmental shifts, female advancement and an enhanced consular representation are expected elements in the current climate.

However, the plan also lays very public stress it allocates for assisting democratic values, the African Union and, in particular, the sub-Saharan cooperative body Ecowas.

This will be positive official support for the organization, which is currently under severe pressure after seeing its 50th anniversary year spoiled by the walk-out of the Sahelian states – Burkina Faso, Mali and the Nigerien Republic – whose governing armed forces have refused to comply with its agreement regarding democratic governance and effective leadership.

Meanwhile, in a communication targeted as much at Spain's internal population as its African collaborators, the external affairs department stated "supporting the African diaspora and the struggle versus discrimination and xenophobia are also crucial objectives".

Fine words of course are only a beginning stage. But in the current negative global atmosphere such terminology really does appear distinctive.