In Casa Africa leaders from multilateral organisations call for more preventive diplomacy to avoid conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa

Yesterday, the International Meeting on Preventive Diplomacy in Sub-Saharan Africa was held at Casa Africa, Las Palmas. The meeting was opened by Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, Vice-president of the Spanish Government; Catherine Samba Panza, former president of the Central African Republic, Pedro Ortega, Regional Minister of Economy, Industry, Commerce and Knowledge Management of the Canary Government, Augusto Hidalgo, Mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Luis Padron, Director General of Casa Africa, attended the ceremony.

As the Vice-president of the Government stated in her opening comments, preventive diplomacy includes those mechanisms and instruments aimed at avoiding focal points of tension developing into open conflict, with incalculable human and material costs and social rupture that take years to heal. The prevention of conflicts covers an ample spectrum of action, from classic diplomacy to development policies, as well as prevention of extremism and gender policies.

Diplomacy based on prevention is one of the pillars of the mandate of the current Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. During its time in the Security Council, recently concluded, Spain has made promotion and development of preventive diplomacy one of its greatest priorities. This meeting follows upon the meeting concerning preventive diplomacy in the Mediterranean, held at Casa Mediterraneo, Alicante, in June 2016.

In the meeting at Casa Africa there were personalities of great political relevance in Africa, such as the aforementioned Catherine Samba Panza, whose role has been crucial in the political transition of her country, or the journalist and holder of the Principe de Asturias Prize for Concorde, Caddy Adzuba.

Other high-ranking officials from the United Nations and the European Union also participated, as well as leading figures in African multilateralism, representing the following regional organisations: the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and G5-Sahel. The contribution to the debates by the former Vice-president of Government and current President of the Women for Africa Foundation, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, is also worthy of mention.

Work was organised by means of three panels in which the following matters, respectively, were discussed: diplomacy for peace and prevention of violent extremism; the role of women to achieve peace in Africa; and the role of the African multilateral organisations for peace and development. During these sessions the role of preventive diplomacy was noted as guarantor of peace and stability in a region which is growing and integrating, but which is still subject to enormous political, economic and ethnic tensions.

At the end of the debates, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ildefonso Castro, read out the conclusions which contained concrete proposals made by the panellists to boost the efficiency of these mechanisms. In his concluding words, the Secretary of State underlined the commitment of Spain to preventive diplomacy, the results of which are ever more visible thanks to the efforts and dedication of people such as the participants in this conference, and he indicated that in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria “we have opened a pathway – that of knowledge of preventive diplomacy in Sub-Saharan Africa - which is set to last”.


The global animation industry learnt of the pros of setting up in Gran Canaria at the Kidscreen Summit in Miami

A delegation from the Gran Canaria Economic Promotion Society (SPEGC) and the Gran Canaria Film Commission participated in the Kidscreen Summit in Miami, an important kids entertainment event, with the object of putting the island on the map of animation productions.

The Kidscreen Summit, held at the InterContinental Hotel in Miami, is one of the most important gatherings of that sector in the American market, in this case, centring on animation aimed at children. This was a date that brought together creators of content, distributors, media, professionals and more than 50 animation industry producers from all over the world.

During his speech, the Managing Director of the SPEGC, Cosme Garcia Falcon, was able to explain the possibilities that Gran Canaria offers for the animation sector, based on the incentives, locations and available local talent.

The response of the producers to these advantageous conditions for setting up business on the island was excellent and many of them wanted more details in the more than 20 individual professional meetings that took place after this speech by Cosme Garcia at the Kidscreen Summit.

The Director of the SPEGC stressed that a large number of these producers emphasised the “importance of qualified local professionals with talent when deciding to set up business on the island”, though they also took into account the quality of life and cost of living in Gran Canaria.

“We have found that Gran Canaria may have possibilities for attracting new companies from the animation sector to the island, but that we must continue along the lines of work already set out such as training, talent and locations, as well as the fiscal incentives which, when compared with other destinations, is pretty competitive”, Garcia Falcon concluded.

It should be noted that the delegation from Gran Canaria took advantage of the promotion campaign and the international positioning of Anima Kitchent, a business established in Gran Canaria, where it is building up its series, Familia Telerin, among others. Anima Kitchent was one of the sponsors of the event and made the most of its outstanding role to promote its series and defend the challenge that the island has set itself of boosting the animation industry. The Kidscreen Summit has been, without a doubt, the perfect showcase for promoting Gran Canaria in this sector of the animation industry.