Spaniards courting Canada for co-operation in the Americas Could be a boost to government's strategy, but Canadian side silent. By Jeff Davis Published September 23, 2009

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Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos

Mindful of Canada's renewed interest in the Americas, Spain is asking Canada to be its partner in a number "triangular" development efforts in Haiti, Colombia and Cuba. But while Spanish officials are keen for co-operation to begin, Canadian officials refuse to speak about the apparently budding partnership.

During a speech at the University of Ottawa on Sept. 18, Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé said the time has come for greater hemispheric co-operation between Spain and Canada.

"Latin America must be a part of the priority co-operation between Spain and Canada," he said in French. "And Haiti needs countries like Spain and Canada to work together.

"I hope during my visit we will establish mechanisms of co-operation and have annual meetings on co-ordination of co-operation in Latin America, to do common, trilateral projects," he said. "It's something I believe necessary, that Canada and Spain work together because there is enormous potential—be it political, economic, social, cultural."

During his visit, Mr. Moratinos met with Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, CIDA Minister Bev Oda and Minister of State for the Americas Peter Kent.

Ignacio Sanchez de Lerin Garcia-Ovies, deputy head of mission of the Embassy of Spain, said Madrid has been watching the development of Canada's Americas Strategy with great interest, and has decided to try and breathe new life into the Canada-Spain bilateral relationship. This co-operation has particular impetus next year, he said, as Spain will hold the EU presidency while Canada plays host to the G8.

In May, DFAIT's director general for Latin America and the Caribbean, James Lambert, travelled to Madrid to discuss joint development projects. At these meetings, Mr. Sanchez said, a number of options for development co-operation were discussed. Most advanced are talks on four joint projects in Haiti, and a meeting between Spanish and Canadian officials took place in Haiti just last month.

He said Canadian and Spanish officials have also spoken about working on demining and violence-related issues in Colombia, and women and youth empowerment projects in Cuba.

"We have seen that Spain and Canada are working sometimes on the same projects in the same areas, but we both have limitations in our donor capacity," Mr. Sanchez said. "Theoretically, if we are working with the same principles, with the same aims, if we get together we can have bigger accomplishments.

"Of course, as we have not worked together in the past, first we'll have to learn how to do it. That's the stage where we are, but the reaction is always very positive."

Mr. Sanchez said Spain places great value on Canada's history as a development trailblazer.

"Canada has an expertise in co-operation for development that we value very much," he said. "Canada was, in the '50s, one of the countries that created the concept of co-operation for development, and has been a major donor for years...so we value very much CIDA expertise."

CIDA Minister Bev Oda's press secretary Jessica Fletcher refused to shed any light on the prospects of joint development projects between Canada and Spain, saying only that Ms. Oda's meeting with Mr. Moratinos was "private" and "cannot be discussed publicly."

Minister Cannon's spokeswoman, meanwhile, said that "the meeting allowed the two countries to strengthen their ties with each other and both ministers expressed an interest in meeting annually to enhance bilateral relations while contributing to progress in finding solutions to current international issues."

'They've got credibility'

Spanish companies have been heavily invested in Latin America for decades, but over the past 18 years, Spain has poured much attention and many resources into boosting its political engagement in the hemisphere.

Most significant was the institution of a yearly Ibero-American Summit, which brings together leaders from Spain, Portugal and Latin America. This summit, which many feared would eclipse the Summit of the Americas, is boosted by the fact that its secretary-general is Enrique V. Iglesias. A former president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Mr. Iglesias is widely respected in the hemisphere, and is said to have given the Ibero-American Summit a big boost since joining in 2005.

Spain also now has observer status as the Organization of American States, but remains outside the Inter-American Development Bank.

Carlo Dade, executive director of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL), has watched Spain take interest in Canada's renewed engagement in the Americas over the past three years. He has attended a number of Madrid-sponsored Canada-Spain think tank conferences, and said the Spanish are very interested in learning about corporate social responsibility from Canada. He said Spanish companies have earned a bad reputation in Latin America, and that Spanish business and government alike hope to help correct this by emulating the Canadian approach to business engagement.

In many ways, he said, the Spaniards are "cleaning our clock" in the Americas, and that a partnership could benefit Canada.

"It would bolster Canada's credibility," he said. "It's always better to walk into a bar with a friend than to walk in by yourself and try to make friends. They've got credibility, capabilities we don't have. In Cuba they're larger than us, and there's a lot we can do together: it's the efficiency argument."

Latin American expert Annette Hester said Canada's Americas Strategy would "absolutely" benefit from a partnership with Spain, saying it would take the strategy out of the shadow of its American cousin.

"I think it would give us a global reach and global thinking, instead of just trying to figure out just how to act in relation to the US," she said. "So you take it to a global level, as opposed to always having to respond to US policy."

"They have a very large presence, which is much broader in its thinking than the Canadian governments, starting with dollars and cents," Ms. Hester added. "Of all the EU countries, Spanish companies and the Spanish government have been committed to a very direct, intense and hands-on involvement in the Americas, and there is much room for partnership."

jdavis@embassymag.ca