According to the Sunday edition of Le Soleil, Senegalese State owned newspaper; Senegal and Spain sealed an agreement, on Friday, granting some 2,700 work permits to Senegalese seeking jobs in Spain.

The state-owned newspaper indicated that this is part of a deal aimed at stemming the wave of illegal migration to Europe.

Signed in Dakar by the Spanish Labour Minister, Jesus Caldera and Senegalese Interior Minister, Ousmane Ngom, the agreement will pave the way for 2,000 workers to be employed by next year in Spanish fishing boats after receiving specialised training at centres back home funded by Spain.

The remaining 700 will be employed in the agricultural sector, especially in strawberry farming. As the epicentre of clandestine migration in Western Africa, this agreement will help to curb the phenomenon gradually.

 It could be recalled that thousands of people, each year, attempt to make it to Spain illegally on barely seaworthy boats. An unknown number have died at sea, while thousands of others are repatriated.

Senegal and the European Union have in recent months undertaken sea patrols against illegal immigration from Africa under an exercise led by the European border agency, Frontex.

The surveillance has seen a marked drop in arrivals in the Spanish islands of the Canary, located off the coast of Morocco, which have been a magnet in recent years for mainly sub-Saharan immigrants aspiring to reach Europe.

More than 31,200 illegal immigrants arrived in the Canaries last year, more than tripling the previous annual record and overwhelming the island chain's authorities. But this year the arrival figures stand at around 8,200 arrivals since January.