Côte d’Ivoire and the Federal Republic of Germany have consolidated their
partnership on the issue of the fight against irregular immigration, by
launching the second phase of the information campaign and sensitization
against irregular immigration.
To carry out this
awareness campaign, Germany offered Friday, in Abidjan, during a ceremony, the
sum of 250,000 euros, or 162,500,000 CFA francs to influence the curve of this
plague.
“Awareness and
information are key elements to change things,” said the chargé d’affaires
at the German Embassy in Côte d’Ivoire, Alexandre Callegaro.
He reminded that
Chancellor Angela Merkel and her administration set up as a priority initiative
to control this phenomenon, hence their strong financial implication to support
local initiatives in relation to the International Organization for Migration
(IOM).
“This fight
against irregular immigration, we must win together with our partners,”
said Ivory Coast General Director Issiaka Konaté.
He praised the
importance of the partnership between Côte d’Ivoire and the Federal Republic of
Germany, which will provide solutions to this phenomenon, which continues to
make waves.
The second phase of
this campaign will last seven months in the localities of Abidjan, Bouaké,
Daloa and Korhogo.
The operational plan
does not fundamentally change because it will focus on community awareness,
with the strong involvement of women. Awareness will be relayed on social
networks to reach the masses.
The great novelty of
this campaign is the involvement of returning migrants, said Joelle Furer, IOM
member.
For his part, Marina
Schramm, IOM Country Director Jacopo Carbonari, stressed that cooperation on
this issue is essential to achieve the goals of informing and raising awareness
about the dangers of immigration, irregular as we see it in the Mediterranean
and especially to offer potential candidates at the start of alternative
solutions (job creation, guarantee of a better-being).
Representing Minister
Ally Coulibaly in charge of African Integration and Ivorians from outside, his
Director of Cabinet Diamouténé Zié Alassane thanked Germany and IOM for all the
efforts made on the ground and which will be reinforced with this second phase.
The Federal Republic
of Germany is the largest donor of the trust fund of the European Union, up to
35 percent, to handle this thorny issue on the old continent, we learned.
AIP/GNA