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Madrid is adopting a distinctly different direction from several Western nations when it comes to immigration strategies and cooperation with the continent of Africa.

Whereas countries like the US, Britain, France and Germany are slashing their development aid budgets, Madrid stays focused to expanding its engagement, though from a lower starting point.

Current Programs

Currently, the Madrid has been welcoming an African Union-backed "global summit on people of African descent". AfroMadrid2025 will explore restorative justice and the establishment of a fresh assistance program.

This demonstrates the newest evidence of how the Spanish administration is seeking to deepen and broaden its involvement with the mainland that lies just a few kilometres to the south, beyond the Gibraltar passage.

Governmental Approach

This past summer External Affairs Minister the Spanish diplomat launched a new advisory council of prominent intellectual, diplomatic and cultural figures, over 50 percent of them from Africa, to oversee the implementation of the thorough Madrid-Africa plan that his government unveiled at the end of last year.

New embassies south of the Sahara, and collaborations in business and education are planned.

Immigration Control

The contrast between Madrid's strategy and that of other Western nations is not just in expenditure but in attitude and mindset – and nowhere more so than in addressing migration.

Similar to different EU nations, Government Leader Madrid's chief executive is seeking methods to contain the entry of irregular arrivals.

"For us, the immigration situation is not only a question of moral principles, unity and dignity, but also one of reason," the administration head commented.

Exceeding 45,000 people made the perilous sea crossing from the Atlantic African shore to the overseas region of the Canary Islands recently. Estimates of those who lost their lives while making the attempt extend from 1,400 to a staggering 10,460.

Effective Measures

Spain's leadership must house recent entrants, evaluate their applications and manage their absorption into broader community, whether short-term or more enduring.

Nevertheless, in language noticeably distinct from the adversarial communication that emanates from several Western administrations, the Sanchez government frankly admits the challenging monetary conditions on the ground in Western Africa that force persons to jeopardize their safety in the effort to reach Europe.

Additionally, it strives to exceed simply refusing entry to incoming migrants. Instead, it is designing original solutions, with a commitment to promote human mobility that are protected, systematic and standardized and "reciprocally advantageous".

Financial Collaboration

During his visit to the West African nation the previous year, Madrid's representative emphasized the contribution that foreign workers contribute to the Iberian economic system.

Madrid's administration finances training schemes for youth without work in states like the Senegalese Republic, notably for unauthorized persons who have been sent back, to assist them in creating viable new livelihoods back home.

And it has expanded a "circular migration" initiative that offers individuals from West Africa limited-duration authorizations to come to Spain for restricted durations of periodic labor, mostly in cultivation, and then come home.

Strategic Importance

The basic concept supporting the Spanish approach is that the Iberian nation, as the EU member state nearest to the region, has an vital national concern in the continent's advancement toward equitable and enduring progress, and peace and security.

The core justification might seem apparent.

However previous eras had guided the Spanish nation down a quite different path.

Other than a few Maghreb footholds and a minor equatorial territory – presently autonomous Equatorial Guinea – its territorial acquisition in the historical period had mainly been directed toward the Americas.

Forward Vision

The heritage aspect includes not only dissemination of the national tongue, with an increased footprint of the Cervantes Institute, but also initiatives to help the mobility of educational instructors and researchers.

Protection partnership, action on climate change, female advancement and an enhanced consular representation are unsurprising components in contemporary circumstances.

However, the strategy also lays very public stress it allocates for assisting democratic values, the continental organization and, in especial, the regional West African group the West African economic bloc.

This constitutes welcome public encouragement for the organization, which is presently facing significant challenges after seeing its 50th anniversary year marred by the withdrawal of the desert region countries – the Sahel country, the Malian Republic and the Nigerien Republic – whose governing armed forces have declined to adhere with its standard for political freedom and proper administration.

Meanwhile, in a message directed equally toward Spain's internal population as its African collaborators, the international relations office said "helping persons of African origin and the fight against racism and immigrant hostility are also key priorities".

Fine words of course are only a initial phase. But in contemporary pessimistic worldwide environment such terminology really does distinguish itself.