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The Spanish government is pursuing a markedly separate path from many developed states when it comes to migration policies and engagement with the continent of Africa.

Although states such as the USA, UK, French Republic and Germany are cutting back their international support allocations, the Spanish government remains committed to enhancing its engagement, though from a modest foundation.

New Initiatives

Recently, the Spanish capital has been accommodating an continent-endorsed "global summit on individuals with African heritage". The African diaspora summit will discuss reparative equity and the creation of a new development fund.

This demonstrates the newest evidence of how Madrid's leadership is attempting to strengthen and expand its cooperation with the mainland that rests only a few kilometres to the south, across the Straits of Gibraltar.

Strategic Framework

This past summer External Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares initiated a fresh consultative body of renowned scholarly, diplomatic and arts representatives, over 50 percent of them of African origin, to monitor the delivery of the detailed Spanish-African initiative that his government released at the conclusion of the previous year.

Fresh consular offices below the Sahara desert, and partnerships in commerce and academic are planned.

Movement Regulation

The distinction between Spain's approach and that of different European countries is not just in expenditure but in perspective and philosophy – and especially noticeable than in addressing population movement.

Similar to other European locations, Administration Head Pedro Sanchez is looking for ways to contain the entry of unauthorized entrants.

"In our view, the movement dynamic is not only a question of moral principles, solidarity and dignity, but also one of logic," the prime minister said.

Over 45,000 individuals made the perilous sea crossing from the Atlantic African shore to the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands recently. Calculations of those who lost their lives while undertaking the journey vary from 1,400 to a staggering 10,460.

Effective Measures

Spain's leadership must house recent entrants, review their cases and manage their absorption into wider society, whether short-term or more enduring.

Nonetheless, in terminology markedly different from the confrontational statements that originates from numerous EU governments, the Spanish administration frankly admits the hard economic realities on the ground in Western Africa that force persons to jeopardize their safety in the attempt to attain EU territory.

And it is trying to exceed simply refusing entry to incoming migrants. Instead, it is developing creative alternatives, with a commitment to encourage movements of people that are protected, systematic and standardized and "jointly profitable".

Commercial Cooperation

During his visit to Mauritania the previous year, Sanchez highlighted the participation that immigrants provide for the Iberian economic system.

The Spanish government supports skill development initiatives for unemployed youth in nations including the West African country, notably for unauthorized persons who have been returned, to assist them in creating workable employment options back home.

And it has expanded a "circular migration" programme that gives West Africans temporary permits to enter Spanish territory for defined timeframes of temporary employment, mostly in cultivation, and then return.

Geopolitical Relevance

The fundamental premise supporting the Spanish approach is that the European country, as the continental nation closest 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.

Yet of course the past had directed the Spanish nation down a distinctly separate route.

Apart from a several North African presences and a minor equatorial territory – currently sovereign Equatorial Guinea – its colonial expansion in the 1500s and 1600s had primarily been focused toward the Americas.

Future Outlook

The heritage aspect incorporates not only dissemination of the national tongue, with an increased footprint of the Spanish cultural organization, but also initiatives to help the transfer of scholarly educators and investigators.

Defense collaboration, measures regarding environmental shifts, female advancement and an increased international engagement are expected elements in the current climate.

However, the plan also lays very public stress it allocates for backing democratic principles, the pan-African body and, in specific, the West African regional organization the Economic Community of West African States.

This will be positive official support for the organization, which is now experiencing substantial difficulties after seeing its 50th anniversary year tainted by the withdrawal of the Sahelian states – the Sahel country, Mali and Niger – whose ruling military juntas have chosen not to follow with its standard for political freedom and proper administration.

Concurrently, in a statement aimed similarly at Madrid's domestic audience as its African collaborators, the external affairs department stated "helping persons of African origin and the struggle versus discrimination and immigrant hostility are also key priorities".

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