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Madrid is adopting a markedly separate path from several Western nations when it comes to migration policies and cooperation with the continent of Africa.

While states such as the US, UK, French Republic and Federal Republic of Germany are cutting back their foreign assistance funding, Madrid stays focused to expanding its engagement, even from a modest foundation.

New Initiatives

Currently, the Spanish capital has been welcoming an AU-supported "global summit on individuals with African heritage". The African diaspora summit will examine reparative equity and the formation of a innovative support mechanism.

This constitutes the latest indication of how Madrid's leadership is attempting to strengthen and expand its cooperation with the region that lies just a few kilometres to the south, across the Straits of Gibraltar.

Governmental Approach

During summer International Relations Head José Manuel Albares initiated a new advisory council of prominent intellectual, international relations and arts representatives, more than half of them African, to monitor the delivery of the detailed Spanish-African initiative that his leadership unveiled at the conclusion of the previous year.

Fresh consular offices in sub-Saharan regions, and cooperative ventures in business and academic are scheduled.

Immigration Control

The distinction between the Spanish method and that of different European countries is not just in expenditure but in tone and philosophy – and nowhere more so than in handling population movement.

Similar to different EU nations, Administration Head Pedro Sanchez is looking for ways to contain the arrival of undocumented migrants.

"For us, the movement dynamic is not only a matter of ethical standards, solidarity and dignity, but also one of rationality," the administration head said.

Over 45,000 people made the perilous sea crossing from Africa's west coast to the island territory of the Canary Islands last year. Estimates of those who lost their lives while making the attempt extend from 1,400 to a overwhelming 10,460.

Practical Solutions

Spain's leadership has to accommodate recent entrants, review their cases and manage their absorption into broader community, whether short-term or more long-lasting.

However, in terminology markedly different from the hostile messaging that originates from several Western administrations, the Sanchez government publicly recognizes the challenging monetary conditions on the ground in West Africa that push people to risk their lives in the endeavor to achieve the European continent.

And it is trying to exceed simply saying "no" to incoming migrants. Conversely, it is creating innovative options, with a pledge to encourage population flows that are protected, organized and standardized and "reciprocally advantageous".

Commercial Cooperation

On his trip to the Mauritanian Republic the previous year, Sanchez stressed the participation that migrants make to the national finances.

Spain's leadership finances educational programs for youth without work in nations including Senegal, particularly for irregular migrants who have been repatriated, to help them develop workable employment options in their homeland.

Additionally, it enlarged a "cyclical relocation" initiative that offers individuals from West Africa temporary permits to arrive in the Iberian nation for limited periods of periodic labor, mostly in cultivation, and then go back.

Policy Significance

The basic concept guiding Spain's engagement is that Spain, as the continental nation most proximate to the mainland, has an vital national concern in the region's development toward comprehensive and lasting growth, and stability and safety.

The core justification might seem obvious.

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

Besides a limited Mediterranean outposts and a minor equatorial territory – presently autonomous the Gulf of Guinea country – its imperial growth in the 1500s and 1600s had primarily been focused overseas.

Future Outlook

The cultural dimension includes not only advancement of Castilian, with an expanded presence of the Cervantes Institute, but also programmes to support the movement of scholarly educators and scholars.

Protection partnership, measures regarding environmental shifts, women's empowerment and an enhanced consular representation are unsurprising components in contemporary circumstances.

Nevertheless, the plan also lays very public stress it allocates for assisting democratic values, the pan-African body and, in particular, the sub-Saharan cooperative body the Economic Community of West African States.

This constitutes positive official support for the organization, which is now experiencing substantial difficulties after witnessing its half-century celebration spoiled by the withdrawal of the desert region countries – the West African nation, the Malian Republic and the Sahel territory – whose ruling military juntas have chosen not to follow with its protocol on democracy and good governance.

Simultaneously, in a statement aimed similarly at the national citizenry as its African collaborators, the international relations office stated "supporting the African diaspora and the fight against racism and anti-foreigner sentiment are also crucial objectives".

Eloquent statements of course are only a beginning stage. But in contemporary pessimistic worldwide environment such language really does distinguish itself.