Reunión de Ministras de la Mujer de los países del G5-Sahel

At the request of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Casa África is organising this Meeting of Ministersat its headquarters. The meeting will be led by the Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality of the Government of Spain, Dolors Montserrat. Also present will be the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Social Services and Equality.

This meeting came about because the European Union - African Union Summit will be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at the end of November, with youth as its central theme. In view of this important event, both the EU institutions and the Member States are designing a series of preparatory meetings and seminars.

Participating in this meeting to be held in Casa África on 31 October will be: Ministers for Women of the member countries of the G-5 Sahel: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

Also invited to the meeting are Elhadji Mohamed Najim, Permanent Secretary of the G5-Sahel, an organization based in Nouakchott, as well as the former Minister of Education and Culture of Mauritania, Ms. Al-Hindy, who will act as moderator during the working sessions.

This meeting is not intended to anticipate the contents of the summit, but to provide new perspectives and identify future areas into which the EU / UA interaction can be extended.

Spain, and therefore the Canary Islands, can contribute to this dynamic by providing links in a geographic environment where we have remarkable presence. The strategic location of the Canary Islands, and its experience both in high-level meetings and in providing a platform for services, businesses and humanitarian aid, means the collaboration of its Government is important. Therefore, the president of the Government of the Canary Islands will be present at the opening ceremony, together with the mayor of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

This meeting will highlight the role of women in the structure of Sahelian societies; their capacity to contribute to the peace, stability and development of their countries of origin; and their role in essential sectors such as health and education, with a direct relationship to the quality of life of the population, as well as the need to enhance their participation in public life. It seems a good moment to underline this potential, since recently the G-5 Platform for women’s issues has been created, opening a new cooperation space for the Sahelian organization.

The meeting will consist of a series of working sessions in the form of round tables where the Ministers and their Spanish counterparts will discuss a series of themes grouped into four panels:

• Panel I: Women in public life in Sahelian societies
• Panel II: Women in the economy of the Sahel countries
• Panel III: Women in basic services: health and education

After the panels, the closing ceremony and the reading of the Declaration of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on women in the Sahel (which will be open to the media) will be carried out by Ildefonso Castro, Spain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

List of participants in this meeting:

• Fernando Clavijo, President of the Government of the Canary Islands (only at the opening)
• Dolors Montserrat, Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality, Spain
• Augusto Hidalgo, Mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (only at the opening)
• Luis Padrón, Director General of Casa África (only at the opening)
• Laure Zongo Hien, Minister for Women, Solidarity and the Family, Burkina Faso.
• Traoré Oumou Touré, Minister for the Advancement of Women, Children and the Family, Mali
• Maimouna Mint Mohamed Taghi, Minister for Social Affairs, Children and the Family, Mauritania.
• Elback Zeinabou Tari Bako, Minister for the Advancement of Women and Protection of Children, Niger.
• Hindou Mint Aina, former Minister of Culture and Crafts of Mauritania from 2014 to 2016. Acting as moderator.
• Elhadji Mohamed Najim, Permanent Secretary, G5 Sahel.
• María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, former Vice-President of the Government and President of the Women for Africa Foundation, Spain.
• Ildefonso Castro, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Spain (reading conclusions)
• Mario Garcés, Secretary of State for Social Services and Equality, Spain.
• Ángel Losada, High Representative for the Sahel, European Union.