The Canary Islands are to step up efforts to further harness the region’s strategic position to foster closer ties with neighbouring Africa.
Canarian president Fernando Clavijo unveiled yesterday a new series of initiatives to capitalise on the islands’ geographical proximity to the massive continent, the nearest point of which lies a mere 100 km off Fuerteventura. Although that same nearness has meant that the Canaries are the landing point of choice for migrant boats, for years it has also served to forge close economic and cultural relationships with Africa, particularly countries such as Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and the Cape Verde islands.
The regional government is keen to extend those ties even further and make the Canaries a platform for trade and cooperation between not just Spain but also the European Union and Africa, which has a population of 1.5 billion and is among the fastest growing areas in the world.
Crucial to increased trade and cooperation will be enhanced travel connections between the Canaries and the nearest countries in north-west Africa. Although Canarian airline Binter already operates frequent flights to various cities in Morocco as well as to – among others – Dakar and Nouakchott, the government is keen to create maritime routes from the Canaries to several countries, particularly Mauritania.
Announcing the new and very ambitious Canaries-Africa Strategy yesterday in Las Palmas, Clavijo said that the envisaged cooperation would not be limited to trade but would encompass a host of sectors such as education, culture, science and technology, health and sustainable development.
