Italy’s foreign affairs undersecretary sees ‘political solution’ to Yemen crisis
Vincenzo Amendola says Italy received 1,000 Syrian refugees; seeks accord in Libya
to go out from this conflict.”
He pointed to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) support of Italy’s role in political negotiations during the Italian foreign delegation’s visit to the OIC’s headquarters in Jeddah. the countries that are hosting the refugees. Having escaped a conflict in their country, Syrians have a status of protection and inclusion. But many of them want to go back Syria once the conflict is over.
“So what we have to do is not only to host them in Europe or in Italy, but to stop the conflict and to have political solution that can provide us the possibility to rebuild the country and give them hope and possibility to stay safe,” said Amendola. work for the political accord.
“Everyone has to work inside the country (through) the embassies or outside like all the friends in the region to help the Libyans set up their political agreement,” said Amendola.
Libya has been fighting to liberate the country from terrorist organization in the battle of Sirte and there are still ongoing operations in Benghazi, he said.
“The role of the regional actors is to bring the unity of the Libyan leadership. Our stress is to be in force all together to find a stable unity for the country,” he added.
The instability in Libya has created an environment for illegal migration from Africa to Europe. According to the Italian diplomat, 90 percent of migrants coming to Italy are from Africa escaping poverty and conflicts in their countries especially on the west coast of the continent and the horn of Africa.
He urged treating the problem from the roots and having a long-term political and economical investment that Europe could work on to help Africa. “Our proposal that we are working on in the European Union (EU) is that we invest in the countries from which the migrants are running away… This could also be a possibility of a common cooperation with the GCC to help the African countries to stand up and help their own development.”
The Italian diplomat underlined the importance of cultural exchange in the time of conflict. Showing harmony despite ethnic or religious differences in the time of Daesh is vital. He said the Middle East, especially around the Mediterranean, takes pride for being full of differences, culturally, religiously and ethnically, even within one country.
“If we see countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Syria… historically (they) were places of differences and they were living together,” he said, adding the best counter-narrative against a terrorist organization like Daesh is to show the differences and that dialogue is possible at cultural and religious levels.
Saudi Arabia is Italy’s first economic partner in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said Amendola who discussed launching the SaudiItalian joint commission to boost the collaboration at an economic and business level.
“We saw in the Vision 2030 (that) Italy could be a partner,” he said. “Our economical system and our entrepreneurship can be partner for this project.
Enhancing the small and mediumsize enterprises (SMEs) is part of the Vision, Italy believes it can contribute in that sector being a country where SMEs form the largest segment of its GDP (gross development product).
“Within the Vision 2030, Italy can offer development of small mediumsized enterprises in terms of exchanging and creating a local economical infrastructure here (in Saudi Arabia) for SMEs,” he said.
He said that despite Italy being the top MENA economic partner, Amendola would like the Italian Embassy and consulate to do much more in terms of joint work with the Kingdom, not just in terms of trade, but also in terms of proposing some Italian business partner working from inside the Kingdom.
He added: “This means creating employment, prosperity and joint venture with local actors. It’s not just a question of selling and trading goods. But for us it’s also a question of coming and producing a “made in Italy” and not just selling a “made in Italy.”