Egypt participates in preparatory meeting for African-European immigration summit

Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs and International Security Hesham Badr on Saturday took part in a meeting of the European Union and African senior officials to prepare for the Malta Summit in November on illegal immigration.

In Egypt's speech, Badr said that the summit should adopt a comprehensive and balanced package to deal with the complicated migration issues.

The needed package should allow to open legal channels for migration to Europe to cut the road on smuggling and trafficking gangs, the Egyptian diplomat said.

Immediate funding should be provided to support development projects able to create jobs for young people in African countries, he added.

Badr stressed that security dealing with the problem is not going to stop migration flows.

Badr also met with European officials on the sidelines of the meeting to briefed them on Egypt's point of view on this issue, as the president of the (Khartoum Process).

Ministers of the 28 EU countries as well as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the European and African Union Commissioners in charge of migration and development and the EU High Representative launched in November 2014 the EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative, also known as the (Khartoum Process), which aims to tackle trafficking and smuggling of migrants between the Horn of Africa and Europe.

The governments agreed on assisting the participating countries in establishing and managing reception centers; cooperating in the identification and prosecution of criminal networks, while supporting victims of trafficking and protecting the human rights of smuggled migrants; and promoting sustainable development in countries of origin and transit in order to address the root causes of irregular migration.
Source: MENA