June took us to Abidjan two days running, for two separate events with the same idea underneath: cooperation between the Canary Islands and Africa is measured in projects, not in reports.
AFRICANTECH: the results, before the Ivorian authorities
On 3 June our director presented the results of the AFRICANTECH project in Abidjan. Part of the INTERREG MAC 2021-2027 programme, it is led by the Casa África Consortium with Ivorian partners such as Côte d’Ivoire PME and the Ivoire Innovation Cluster. With a budget of close to EUR 1.65 million, the project works on young talent and the entrepreneurial ecosystem of West Africa. The detail is in the seminar profile.
The INTERREG MAC projects, in Côte d’Ivoire for the first time
On 4 June, Abidjan hosted the first presentation of the INTERREG MAC projects in Côte d’Ivoire, organised and coordinated by IBC Spain. The portfolio with Ivorian partners is already substantial: some ten initiatives mobilising more than EUR 27 million across training and employment, agri-food, aquaculture and fisheries and the circular economy, with Casa África, the ULPGC, the University of La Laguna, the ITC and the Canary Islands Government among the lead partners. Full profile: Presentation session for the projects approved with Côte d’Ivoire under the INTERREG MAC programme.
And one figure that explains a great deal
Some 3.5 million Africans are studying Spanish in sub-Saharan Africa, twice as many as in 2014, according to the study by the Instituto Cervantes and Casa África. Côte d’Ivoire leads the way, with close to a million learners, second only to Cameroon. On 10 June the Cervantes opened its Aula in Abidjan. For a Spanish company looking at francophone West Africa, language is no longer the barrier it once was.
This piece is drawn from Conexión África, IBC Spain’s monthly newsletter. You can read the full edition #10 on LinkedIn or subscribe to the newsletter, which comes out once a month.