Italy's deputy foreign minister Emanuela Del Re attend the 8th Ministerial Conference of the 5+5 Dialogue on Migration and Development in Marrakech, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday in a statement.
The Conference was a useful opportunity to reaffirm Italy's support for an all-encompassing and balanced approach to the migration phenomenon, harmonizing mobility with the fight against traffickers, integrating the different dimensions of security and socio-economic development, according to the statement.
"It is time to strengthen cooperation, both at sea and in countries of origin and transit, creating the conditions so that people do not have to leave their countries irregularly," Del Re said.
Italy supports any multilateral mechanism to improve migration management, Del Re said, calling for the strengthening of the Valletta Action Plan adopted by European and African leaders at a migration summit in 2015 and the UN Global Compact on refugees.
"Italy has done and will continue to do its part not only with the Fund for Africa (renamed the Fund for Migration), financed with 226 million euros over 3 years, and through the support of the European Union Trust Fund for Africa - of which we are the second contributing country - but also by focusing on the enhancement of African diasporas in Italy, which act as a bridge between the country of origin and the destination country and as a vehicle for the economic and social development of both," she said.
The foreign ministers of France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and representatives from Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia also attended the conference.
