AU Commission Chairperson and Italian Foreign Minister agree

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 15 January 2015: The perennial problems associated with migration can be solved not by a security-based approach, but rather through an integrated and multi-sectorial approach that includes job creation, increasing industrialization, reducing unemployment, investing in human resources, skills development, industrialization peace and security.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and visiting Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Paolo Gentiloni agreed when they met on Thursday 15 January 2015, at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. H.E. Paolo Gentiloni was meeting with the Government authorities of Ethiopia, and the AU during his first visit to Africa as Foreign Minister since appointed about two months earlier.

Beyond embarking on a strategic and political approach to tackling migration, which has seen thousands of Africans venturing perilous crossing over to Europe the Mediterranean seas, the two leaders also discussed areas of cooperation.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission also took the opportunity to brief the Foreign Minister on the state of peace and development on the continent. She said one of the highlights of the upcoming Summit of Heads of State and Government will be the adoption of Agenda 2063, the continental transformation agenda. Once completed, the agenda will inform engagement with the Regional Economic Communities and Member States as well as with multilateral partners to achieve continent’s vision of integrated, prosperous and peaceful continent.

The Chairperson and the Foreign Minister expressed great optimism in the future of Africa, given improvements in the past decades, but also with the enormous potential of the continent.