Policy Updates

On August 31, 2023, the Spanish development CSO umbrella organization ‘La Coordinadora’ published an open letter calling on the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU, and Cooperation José María Albares and EU development ministers to strengthen development policies, tackle poverty, and reduce inequities worldwide.

The letter was published shortly before the informal meeting of development ministers that in Cadiz, Spain, to be held from September 4-5 in the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the EU.

‘La Coordinadora’ advocated the EU’s international development cooperation to assume greater leadership advancing the global agenda on gender equality. Specific actions included in the letter included leading the implementation of the EU Third Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in External Relations 2020-2025.

‘La Coordinadora’ also urged EU development ministers to reinforce and review the financial architecture of EU development cooperation and provide humanitarian assistance to the Sahel regional conflict.

On July 13, 2023, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation José Manuel Albares and the director of AECID Antón Leis participated at the EU - CLACS Society Forum organized in Brussels, Belgium.

The meeting took place in the framework of the 3^rd EU- CLACS Summit, held from July 17-18, 2023. The summit prioritized innovative solutions for sustainable and inclusive development in the LAC region.

Albares highlighted that Spain, the EU, and the LAC region share a common approach in the areas of sustainable development, democratic values, human rights, peace, and the environment.

The EU - CLACS Civil Society Forum gathered government officials, development NGOs, youth collectives and other civil society groups. The civil society forum provided the EU - CLACS Summit with ten specific recommendations on gender equality, global health, the caring economy, democratic participation, digitalization, climate change, and education.

On July 10, 2023, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation José Manuel Albares participated at the Fourth General Assembly of the Sahel Alliance held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, to hand over Spain’s presidency of this institution to Germany.

Chaired by Spain from June 2020 to July 2023, the Sahel Alliance is a multilateral organization that gathers partner countries from the Sahel, EU donor countries, the World Bank, the AfDB, and the UNDP with the objective of fostering sustainable development and human security in the region.

During the meeting, Albares highlighted achievements from Spain’s three-year presidency of the Sahel Alliance. He underlined the Spanish multipronged commitment to furthering human development, security, and climate change adaptation. In regard to the latter, he foregrounded measures aimed at improving partner countries’ resilience against desertification, severe drought, and floods, as the most important milestones.

Albares also reviewed the AECID's recent interventions to foster health basic services and women empowerment and food security in the region.

On July 10, 2023, German development minister Svenja Schulze took over the Presidency of the Sahel Alliance from Spain.

Schulze outlined three priorities for her presidency:

1. Creating paths out of the crisis by offering more education, training, and employment;
2. Making societies more resilient through social protection and long-term solutions for food security that go beyond emergency relief; and
3. Recovering areas that the government has lost control over and providing people with basic services.
   
   Schulze emphasized the empowerment of girls and women, who are often main income-earners and can significantly impact regional development.
   
   With over EUR28 billion (US$31 billion) in support for initiatives, the Sahel Alliance is the region's biggest alliance of international supporters.

On May 10-12, 2023, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation launched a statement announcing that Spain will join the Global Equality Fund.

The GEF is a public-private partnership led by the US administration aimed at advancing and defending the human rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTQ+ persons around the world.

In addition to the statment, Prime Minister Sánchez and President Biden met on May 12, 2023. During discussions, both leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as climate change and sustainable development. Among other issues, Sánchez and Biden committed to foster support to the International Drought Resilience Alliance. Additionally,, Spain and the US agreed to reinforce coordination in development cooperation and security in Central America and the Sahel.

On April 28, 2023, Spanish State Secretary for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela, visited Colombia and Costa Rica to meet government counterparts and observe several in-country programs funded with Spanish ODA.

Cancela highlighted longstanding partnerships between Spain and Costa Rica and Colombia and reiterated Spain's aim to continue fostering sustainable development in these countries. Cancela participated in several events and activities focused on gender equality, women's empowerment, migration flows, social cohesion and the EU relationship with the Latin America and Caribbean region.

April 25, 2023, the economic think tank ‘One Africa’, in collaboration the AU and other partners, announced plans to organize the first Africa Spain Cooperation Summit in Madrid on July 6-8, 2023.

The event was announced in anticipation of the 2023 Spanish Presidency of the EU Council and in response to the release of the MAEC's Focus Africa 2023, a strategic blueprint that outlines foreign action priorities in the African continent.

Under the title Bridging the gap between Africa and Spain!, this high-level forum aims to gather heads of state and high-level government representatives to address the main challenges and opportunities for cooperation between Africa and Spain. Sustainable development, food security, digitalization, women's empowerment, and climate change will be among the topics covered during the conference.

Spain’s Focus Africa 2023 action plan is tailored around five strategic objectives: peace and security, sustainable development, inclusive economic growth, institutional cooperation, and security.

On March 16, 2023, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation José Manuel Albares announced that Spain will reinforce development cooperation links with ECOWAS.

Albares made the announcement during the opening of a workshop held in Madrid, Spain, aimed at reviewing common challenges and shared opportunities between Spain and West African partner countries. He also announced that AECID would develop a new development-related program to strengthen cooperation interventions with ECOWAS.

Western Africa and ECOWAS are among Spain’s top development priorities. Of the EUR230 million (US$246 million) that Spain committed to ECOWAS in 2009, EUR188 million (US$201 million) has been allocated to rural development, agriculture, infrastructures, renewable energies, migration, and gender equality.

On February 16th, 2023, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation José Manuel Albares inaugurated the Spanish cooperation new office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This is the first development cooperation office that Spain has opened in a priority partner country after the recent approval of the new Spanish Law for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity.

During Albares’ official trip to Ethiopia, he made an address before the AU’s Executive Council and signed the new Country Partnership Framework (‘Marco de Asociaicón País’ or MAP) that will drive Spain’s bilateral development priorities in Ethiopia from2023-2027.

The new MAP between Spain and Ethiopia will account for an ODA budget of at least EUR44 million (US$47 million) in a five-year period.The funding will focus on rural development, food security, global health, and gender equality.

On December 21, 2022, the Netherlands condemned the Taliban’s decision to ban women from attending universities in Afghanistan through a joint ministerial statement.

The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the High Representative of the European Union, strongly condemned the Taliban’s recent decision. The ministers also condemned the Taliban’s practices of barring girls from secondary schools and imposing other harsh violations of the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

The statement warned of consequences for development cooperation in Afghanistan should the ban continue, and were in close contact with the United Nations, which was also urging the Taliban to reverse its decision immediately