Yolanda Díaz extends cooperation with Senegal to the labour inspectorate

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, together with her Senegalese counterpart, Yankoba Diémé

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, today strengthened bilateral cooperation with Senegal with the signing in Dakar of a new Statement of Intent, this time focusing on collaboration with the Labour Inspectorate.

The vice-president met with the Senegalese Minister for Labour, Employment and Relations with Institutions, Yankoba Diémé, with whom she signed the document that strengthens collaboration with the Labour Inspectorate.

"The Statement of Intent that we are signing today with the Senegalese Ministry of Labour will allow cooperation between Spain and Senegal to expand considerably in the field of Labour Inspections, in which we are already collaborating," said Díaz, who is making her first official visit to this sub-Saharan country, the only one with a labour council in West Africa.

Through the technical assistance programme of the Ministry of Work and Social Economy, considerable bilateral collaboration is taking place between Diaz's department and her counterpart's in Senegal. These exchanges, in which Ministry experts share their knowledge and pool experiences and best practices, have intensified.

As a result, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed today, with the aim of enhancing exchanges between the two Labour Inspectorates. The main aim is to ensure that the Senegalese Labour Inspectorate has the appropriate training and skills to help formalise the economy, given that a large part of economic activity is carried out in the informal sector.

Throughout 2024, technical training assistance will be provided to the Administration and the Labour Inspectorate in the area of occupational risk prevention, among others.

The signing of the memorandum followed a meeting with her counterpart Diémé, with whom the minister analysed the relaunching of cooperation between the two countries in recent years and that planned for the future in response to the reality affecting both countries.

It is estimated that around 90,000 Senegalese have settled in Spain, while there are around 5,000 Spaniards in the African country. The Chamber of Commerce in Dakar has more than a hundred registered companies, which generate employment in this West African country.

Meeting with the prime minister

The vice-president has also had the Government of Spain's first official contact with the new prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, a popular opposition leader to the previous government with broad support in the country and who was imprisoned until a few months ago.

In the afternoon, the vice-president is scheduled to meet with Sonko, who has been in office since April following the March election that produced Senegal's new government.

The Prime Minister and political leader Ousmane Sonko has assumed the leadership of the new Senegalese Government after a turbulent political period in recent years from which Senegalese democracy has emerged clearly strengthened. Senegal is thus consolidating its position as the great democratic engine of West Africa, in a fragile environment in which other Sahel countries have experienced coups d'état in recent years.

Deepening bilateral cooperation

In recent years, bilateral cooperation between the two countries has been strengthened in the field of competence of the Ministry of Work and Social Economy. Díaz recalled that a year ago another Statement of Intent on Social Economy was also signed with Senegal "to jointly advance in this other, fairer and more feminist way of doing economy, which is the social and solidarity economy". In addition, the first UN General Assembly resolution on the Social and Solidarity Economy was jointly promoted with Senegal.

Apart from Senegal, the Department of Work has also reinforced its work with other West African countries such as Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Togo, and will soon start working with Mauritania.

On Thursday, the vice-president is also scheduled to meet with the Minister for Microfinance and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Alioune Badara Dione, with whom she will analyse the development of the Statement of Intent signed a year ago, discuss the role of the social economy in the process of moving from the informal to the formal economy and study possible joint initiatives.

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