The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, signed on Thursday her ministry’s first memorandum of understanding with Palestine as a country, following Spain’s recognition of the state Palestinian last May. “Palestine has become the country that receives the most technical cooperation programs,” emphasized Díaz, who announced other future projects between the two governments.
The signing of this first memorandum (MOU) between the two Ministries of Labor, which Díaz signed with his Palestinian counterpart Enas Attari, took place on Thursday in La Moncloa during a high-level interministerial meeting between the governments of the two countries. . Led by President Pedro Sánchez and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, other agreements were also concluded, such as on youth and agriculture, indicates the second vice-president’s team.
Although these types of memorandums are gestures of proximity between countries, the Ministry of Labor also highlights their practical relevance, which is reflected in the measures, projects and collaboration between administrations, explain sources from the department led by Yolanda Díaz .
During the event, the second vice president recalled the tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza and highlighted the official recognition of the Palestinian state as “the first brick in building a just and lasting peace”, underlines the Ministry of Labor.
“Our work does not stop here and we will continue to show our support and solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the vice president said.
“Technical assistance” and resources for the social economy
“Today we signed the first memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy of Spain and the Ministry of Labor of the State of Palestine, which will promote collaboration between the two ministries at all levels,” explained Yolanda Díaz in her speech, both in socio-work and social economy.
The Ministry of Labor explains that Palestine has already become “the country which receives the most technical collaboration”, a collaboration which is intended to expand with this new memorandum. The goal is to support the Palestinian people “with all possible tools,” Yolanda Díaz said.
Attari and Díaz held their first bilateral meeting on November 13 during the International Labor Congress in Madrid, during which they discussed the various technical assistance provided throughout this year on topics “such as equal pay, statistics, self-employment, cooperatives, social dialogue, public training or employment services.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy made a contribution of “100,000 euros” to the International Labor Organization (ILO) in terms of social economy to strengthen the cooperative fabric of the West Bank and future reconstruction from Gaza. Specifically, it was allocated to the project “Improving Cooperatives’ Access to Markets to Achieve Decent Work and Resilience in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Work explains.
“And we plan to launch new projects in 2025 to respond to the priorities that the minister highlighted to me at our meeting this month and that we share: women, young people and training for employment,” added Yolanda Díaz.
