Create jobs for African youth to reduce migration – Mahama to EU

President John Dramani Mahama has appealed to the European Union (EU) to help create jobs for the youth in Africa, to reduce the surge of Africans migrating to Europe.

President Mahama said this while speaking at a state dinner at the Flagstaff House in honour of the Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, who is in the country for a two-day state visit.

Thousands of migrants, especially from Africa, died in 2015 on the Mediterranean Sea while trying to enter Europe.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said over one million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015.

The issue sparked a crisis in the EU countries as they struggled to resettle the migrants.

President Mahama has, however, called on the European Union to also support troubled African countries like Libya, where most migrants cross to Europe, and also urged countries that participated in the migration summit held in Valetta, to implement the five-point political declaration and 16 concrete action plans agreed on at the summit, “which are to be implemented by the end of 2016.”

“One of the key issues for which Ghana will encourage Italy to rally and get the European Union to work hard at is the need to support troubled countries like Libya to build a stable and functioning government. Developing and troubled countries must be supported by their development partners to build industry aimed at creating employment opportunities for young people in order to stem the regular migrant flows into Western Europe,” he added.

President Mahama further said there was the need for young people in Africa to be empowered with employable skills to enable them take charge of their economic lives.

The Prime Minister of Italy arrived in Accra on Monday and held bilateral talks with President Mahama before being hosted at the dinner.

He addressed Ghana’s Parliament Tuesday morning and later in the day visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.

According to President Mahama, “This visit by the Prime Minister will not only strengthen the existing cordial, political and socio-economic ties between Ghana and Italy, but also confirm Ghana’s international credentials as a sound political environment and one of Africa’s most promising emerging markets.”