Migration conference, Meloni: “Before the states there are people. We need a dialogue between equals based on respect”

«Mass illegal immigration harms everyone, if not the criminal organizations, which use their strength on the skin of the most fragile. At the center of migratory flows are people, there are lives, hopes and sufferings. It is our duty to look after the fate of these people.”

This was stated by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, as she opened the work of the International Conference on development and migration in Rome.

The summit was attended by 5 heads of state (Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Libya, Cyprus), 8 prime ministers (Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Malta, Jordan, Nigeria, Algeria, Lebanon), and as many ministers (Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Oman, Kuwait, Turkey, Greece, Qatar, Bahrain), as well as the heads of international organizations and the United Nations. In addition to the prime minister who presides over it and the deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani who hosts it, the deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure Matteo Salvini, the interior ministers Matteo Piantedosi, the undersecretaries to the prime minister Alfredo Mantovano and Giovanbattista Fazzolari take part in the front row.

“The fact that the highest representatives of over 20 states and various international organizations sit at this table demonstrates the friendship between our peoples and the awareness that working together is essential to face the challenges we face”. He went on to add: “The partnership with the countries of origin of the migrants “must be equal, non-predatory, multidimensional, long-term, it must be based on respect and not on a paternalistic approach, on solidarity, on respect for the sovereignty of each, on sharing responsibilities, on protecting the law, because this is the only serious way to strengthen our bond, to trust each other more and more and to foster the development and prosperity of our peoples”.

The appeal is clear and strong. «We need a common commitment and more collaboration to fight the networks of traffickers. I hope that this initiative will be the first of many other initiatives, the presence here of the highest representatives of over twenty states demonstrates the awareness that to face the great challenges it is essential to be able to work together

«From today begins what I like to call the Rome process, which must strengthen the dialogue between us but be open. I want to be clear: today we are inaugurating a dialogue between equals, based on mutual respect, the one between Europe and the enlarged Mediterranean cannot be a competitive or enlarged relationship».