The Queen returns to Africa and visit Cabo Verde on her 10th cooperation trip | Spain

The Queen His annual trip begins on Monday along with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) to Cape Verde. The Archipelago of the Atlantic aspect of Africa will be the scene of a visit that will lead it to know projects related to gender equality, the reduction of inequalities and the promotion of the blue economy, a fundamental leg for the development of a country made up of ten islands and whose little more than half a million inhabitants live fundamentally of tourism and the sea.

After Senegal, Mauritania and Mozambique, the queen returns to a contine A Guatemalan in 2024already Colombia, in 2023. An unwritten rule marks some alternation between both regions, considered strategic for Spain by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. « Cabo Verde is a particular country; it is not an important country of development for a great donor, but it is very dependent on (development), » explains Iliana Olivié, principal researcher at the Royal Institute Elcano. « In relation to its GDP, that help represents 3.7%, which is very high. In Guinea it is 2.6%, and in sub -Saharan Africa it is 3%, » compares.

Felipe VI’s wife recovers his uniform of Cooperating – Beige Papers, White Squis and the mythical red vest – to make visible the work of Spanish cooperation abroad and generate awareness among the population of realities that affect friendly countries, such as those who visit the queen every year in the framework of this trip considered by experts as an example of « Soft Diplomacy «  (soft diplomacy), since trust links are largely created through development aid. « Cooperation (from Spain with Cabo Verde) is intensive at the technical and political level, which is less expensive, » explains Olivié, which also belongs to the Development Cooperation Council, under the Foreign Ministry, on a country with which Spain maintains relations since 1977. Four years ago the latest advanced cooperation agreement between the two countries was signed and since then, the AECID has invested more than 13 million euros in projects in the archipers.

« In addition, it has a lot of relationship with the Canary Islands, » And it is that Cabo Verde, for its geographical position, shares with the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira – the last two belonging to Portugal -, a very precious characteristic: it is a tremendously strategic country since it is in front of the coasts of Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania and in full Atlantic Ocean. That same peculiarity is what gives the touch of vulnerability because, despite having a growth of just over 5%, it is a « poor » country, they say outdoors, with a poverty rate of 24.75%, and « cannot supply. » There is a shortage of natural resources. So it depends deeply on the foreign aid and the remittances of money that the diaspora sends, mainly concentrated in Portugal. In the Spanish case, there are two important spotlights with the Caboverdian population: one in Burela (Lugo) and another in Ponferrada (León).

One of the objectives of the trip is to « value the relationship of Spain and Cabo Verde, » they explain outdoors, but also « recognize the work of Spanish cooperators in the country. » At present, there are 32 Spaniards working on development aid projects in the African archipelago of which 21 are women. The queen will visit some of the projects whose protagonists are women victims of sexual violence –As happened last year in Guatemala– Or of empowerment and economic autonomy of women who, according to exteriors, have a lack of security, receive lower salaries and have more difficult access to social security, precisely to move in jobs in the submerged economy, such as domestic care.

The queen will travel to two islands, Santiago and San Vicente. It is in the latter that you can visit the projects that the AECID and other local organizations execute in relation to the blue economy, a concept based on the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources to boost employment, promote sustainable growth and protect the environment that already put the princess Leonor On his first official trip abroad in July 2024 to Lisbon (Portugal).