Pedro Martín highlights the vocation of the insular corporation and urges not to have only a commercial vision of globalization
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 30 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Investment in international cooperation has grown five times more in this mandate in the Cabildo de Tenerife, going from 159,000 euros in 2019 to 829,776 euros in 2023.
The figures have been exposed at a press conference by the president, Pedro Martín, and the Minister of Foreign Action, Liskel Alvarez, who have detailed that the projects awarded have been carried out through competitive bidding so that they do not remain in the hands of political criteria .
These funds also include 120,000 euros in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, 55,000 euros to combat malnutrition in minors in Western Sahara and 153,000 euros for health coverage in Venezuela, services that will be provided through a foundation “so as not to be suspected” of a possible electoral use and guarantee “that the money reaches where it has to go”, detailed the president.
Most of the resources go to Africa, with 60,000 euros for a Radio Ecca literacy project in Guinea Bissau; 59,967 for an educational initiative of the Don Bosco Foundation in Cameroon; 60,000 euros in The Gambia for infant feeding through Solidarios Canarios de Acción Social y Cooperación; another 60,000 euros in Guinea Conakry to create a small research center through the Canary Islands Foundation for the Control of Tropical Diseases; 30,960 euros for medical supplies in The Gambia and 60,000 euros for a youth insertion program in the Ivory Coast.
In addition, international cooperation opens up to Latin America with a project of almost 10,000 euros for the indigenous communities of Bolivia and 59,300 euros in Uruguay –shared with Cape Verde– to develop urban mobility and circular economy projects.
Martín has commented that international cooperation is a “sign of identity” of the Cabildo, whose action is not limited to its own borders, and even more so in a “globalized world”, which should not remain “only economically” and a rise of prices for the war in Ukraine. “We have to be more global in cooperation”, he has indicated.
He has pointed out that the growth of the budget “is a trend” and not a “specific occurrence” and he would see it as “obtuse” that even if the government changed, the funds would be interrupted.
In parallel, he has indicated that the Cabildo also has another line of 1.5 million to promote trade with Africa and America, but in a “fair” way and not with “colonial” overtones, even “opening a door” from the island to that African companies can operate with other countries.
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT, LINES OF WORK
Basilio Valladares, founder of the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, has highlighted the line of “education, training and employment” chosen by the Cabildo to grant the subsidies since it is not about “sending boxes of milk” but promoting that in the countries of destination “milk is manufactured”.
Thus, it has affected the “involvement” of the local population with the chosen projects and that “education and knowledge” is the “only” way that will be able to get countries out of underdevelopment.
He has given as an example a project of training scholarships for students from Cape Verde in the implementation of renewable energies that will allow families in some neighborhoods of the country –without water or electricity– “to have a fridge” thanks to the installation of photovoltaic panels . “Close your eyes and imagine your house without water and without electricity”, she has indicated.
From Radio Ecca they have highlighted that they have been working in Guinea Bissau since 2008 in a literacy project for women that will now be complemented by another post-literacy project linked to job searches and in the International Cooperation NGO they have stressed the advantages of exposing young people from Tenerife the reality of other young people who live in underdeveloped countries.
