Egypt hosts about nine million migrants of different nationalities who enjoy all the basic rights of work, trade, transportation and ownership alongside native Egyptians, Egypt’s ambassador to Italy Bassam Rady said.
The Italian Senate hosted Rady on Wednesday to review Egypt’s stance on illegal migration, in the presence of the Italian minister of industry and several senior Italian officials, university professors and media experts.
Rady attended the session as a guest of honor and delivered a speech under the title “Immigration and Treatment Methods.
Egypt has succeeded since 2016 in preventing illegal migration across its coasts, he said, stressing that whoever infiltrated to Italy did not depart from the Egyptian coasts, but rather exited from other countries illegally.
He added that the solution to illegal migration to Europe will not come by closing the borders or through security measures, but by treating the true root of the issue.
Rady recommended that Europe carries out a serious study to establish huge infrastructure projects in Africa, especially projects linking African countries, such as international roads, railways and shipping lines.
He explained that this will help support the revitalization of intra-trade between the countries of Africa, in order to provide job opportunities and reduce the pressure of illegal immigration waves.
Europe can have great investment opportunities in Egypt and Africa through infrastructure projects that would establish promising development and ensure increased employment opportunities, he said.
European industrial institutions can obtain very large returns from the implementation of these projects, Rady stressed.
The migration official in the Italian Labor Union Francesca Cantini said that Rady’s suggested projects can serve as an effective and rapid solution to the problem of illegal immigration, and said that decision-makers in Italy and Europe must coordinate with Egyptian officials to start as soon as possible carrying out these projects.
