The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezhas appeared since Gambia during the first visit of a chief executive to the country, announcing “a new strategy” which will be announced in the coming weeks, advancing that West Africa and the Sahel will become “priority regions” for Spain.
“My visit to Gambia allows contribute to forging this vision and that it is aligned with the visions of our partners,” Sánchez said.
Sanchez considered Gambia as a “key partner in border surveillance”, sharing a “common objective” with Spain such as “saving lives at sea“. “The Gambia and Spain will sign a memorandum on circular migration that aims to regulate safe, regulated and orderly migration,” Sánchez said.
Gambia is the second stop on Sánchez’s African tour, which took place from Nouakchott to Banjul, in what is the first official visit of a Spanish government president to that country. The first act of his stay in the country, which lasted about four hours, consisted of a visit to members of the National Police and the Civil Guard who are carrying out cooperation work in the port of Banjul in the fight against illegal immigration.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albaresvisited the country last June, where he also met with members of the Civil Guard, who at the time had helped foil 15 attempts by migrants to leave.
On the occasion of the visit, Spain and Gambia will sign an agreement that will include the African country in the list of nations that are part of the Spanish initiative of circular migrationoriginally hiring these workers to go to Spain for seasonal work. At the end of these, they will return to their country, which represents a commitment to the promotion of legal migration and in which Spain had until now seven countries: Morocco, Senegal, Colombia, Argentina, Honduras, Ecuador and Uruguay.
