Mauritania and Spain agreed Wednesday to cooperate to manage migrant flows, during a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to the West African country as his government faces an upsurge in migrant arrivals.
The two countries expressed “their commitment to work together to promote safe, orderly and regular migration” and guarantee “the fair and humane treatment of migrants”, in a joint declaration.
Nearly every day, Spain’s coastguard rescues a boat carrying dozens of African migrants towards the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa.
The Atlantic route is perilous due to the strong currents, with thousands of deaths and disappearances every year on overloaded, often unseaworthy boats.
Sanchez arrived in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott on Tuesday, marking the start of a three-day trip that also takes in The Gambia and Senegal — three key countries in the migration crisis.
Alongside the joint declaration, Spain and Mauritania have signed a memorandum of understanding to implement “a pilot project for the selection of Mauritanian workers in their country of origin” to work in Spain, according to a separate document sent to AFP on Tuesday, without giving figures.
It includes “circular migration programmes… with a particular focus on young people and women”, the joint declaration said.
Sanchez, who on Wednesday visits The Gambia and then Senegal, also held talks with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.
The Mauritanian presidency on Monday said MPs would meet on September 2 to examine texts aimed at tightening legislation on illegal migration.
They include the creation of a specialised court to crack down on migrant smuggling and the introduction of new criminal provisions.
Madrid estimates there are some 200,000 people in Mauritania waiting to go to the Canaries.
Between January 1 and August 15 this year, 22,304 migrants reached the Islands, compared with 9,864 in the same period in 2023 — an increase of 126 percent, according to interior ministry figures.
Across all of Spain, there were 31,155 arrivals up to mid-August, a 66.2-percent increase on the 18,745 a year earlier.
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