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Spain is charting a markedly separate path from many developed states when it comes to migration policies and cooperation with the African continent.

Whereas nations including the US, Britain, France and Germany are cutting back their foreign assistance funding, Spain remains committed to increasing its engagement, though from a reduced baseline.

Recent Developments

This week, the Madrid has been hosting an continent-endorsed "international gathering on people of African descent". The African diaspora summit will discuss corrective fairness and the creation of a fresh assistance program.

This demonstrates the most recent sign of how Madrid's leadership is seeking to deepen and expand its cooperation with the mainland that rests only a brief span to the southern direction, over the Mediterranean crossing.

Policy Structure

During summer Foreign Minister Madrid's top envoy initiated a new advisory council of prominent intellectual, international relations and cultural figures, more than half of them of African origin, to monitor the implementation of the thorough Madrid-Africa plan that his leadership published at the end of last year.

New embassies south of the Sahara, and collaborations in enterprise and education are scheduled.

Movement Regulation

The contrast between Spain's approach and that of different European countries is not just in expenditure but in tone and outlook – and especially noticeable than in dealing with immigration.

Similar to different EU nations, Prime Minister Madrid's chief executive is looking for ways to contain the arrival of undocumented migrants.

"In our view, the immigration situation is not only a matter of ethical standards, unity and respect, but also one of rationality," the administration head stated.

Over 45,000 people made the perilous sea crossing from Africa's west coast to the island territory of the Atlantic islands the previous year. Calculations of those who died while trying the crossing range between 1,400 to a overwhelming 10,460.

Effective Measures

The Spanish administration must house recent entrants, evaluate their applications and manage their absorption into broader community, whether short-term or more enduring.

Nonetheless, in rhetoric noticeably distinct from the hostile messaging that originates from numerous EU governments, the Madrid leadership openly acknowledges the challenging monetary conditions on the region in the West African region that force persons to endanger themselves in the attempt to attain the European continent.

And it is trying to exceed simply denying access to new arrivals. Conversely, it is creating innovative options, with a commitment to foster movements of people that are protected, orderly and regular and "jointly profitable".

Commercial Cooperation

While traveling to the Mauritanian Republic recently, Madrid's representative emphasized the participation that immigrants make to the Iberian economic system.

The Spanish government supports skill development initiatives for jobless young people in nations including the West African country, notably for irregular migrants who have been sent back, to help them develop workable employment options back home.

Additionally, it enlarged a "cyclical relocation" programme that offers individuals from West Africa limited-duration authorizations to enter Spanish territory for limited periods of periodic labor, mainly in agriculture, and then return.

Strategic Importance

The basic concept supporting Spain's engagement is that the European country, as the European country most proximate to the mainland, has an vital national concern in the region's development toward inclusive and sustainable development, and peace and security.

The core justification might seem evident.

Nevertheless the past had directed the Iberian state down a noticeably unique course.

Apart from a several North African presences and a minor equatorial territory – today's independent the Gulf of Guinea country – its colonial expansion in the 16th and 17th Centuries had mainly been directed toward the Americas.

Prospective Direction

The heritage aspect incorporates not only dissemination of the national tongue, with an expanded presence of the language promotion body, but also programmes to help the mobility of educational instructors and scholars.

Security co-operation, measures regarding environmental shifts, women's empowerment and an increased international engagement are unsurprising components in today's environment.

Nonetheless, the approach also places significant emphasis it assigns to assisting democratic values, the pan-African body and, in especial, the West African regional organization Ecowas.

This constitutes positive official support for the entity, which is presently facing significant challenges after seeing its 50th anniversary year tainted by the withdrawal of the desert region countries – Burkina Faso, Mali and the Nigerien Republic – whose governing armed forces have declined to adhere with its protocol on democracy and good governance.

Concurrently, in a message aimed similarly at Madrid's domestic audience as its African collaborators, the foreign ministry declared "supporting the African diaspora and the struggle versus discrimination and xenophobia are also key priorities".

Fine words of course are only a beginning stage. But in contemporary pessimistic worldwide environment such discourse really does stand out.