Italy-Mali: Ambassador De Jacques meets with Minister Ag Attahel to focus on migration issues

IOM will invest Italian funds to ensure that migrants receive training and alternative jobs, and in conjunction with other Italian-funded development projects, create jobs in other parts of the country, starting with the Calles region.

The Italian Ambassador to Mali, Stefano De Jacques, met with the Minister of Malians Abroad, Moussa Ag Attahel, to launch the second phase of the project for the protection and assistance of migrants, focusing on the implementation of the services of the Migrant Centre to be established in Gao, in the north of Mali. This was reported in a report by La Farnesina. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation invested 1 million euros last year to create the Centre and has now added another 500,000 euros to make it operational through the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In 2023, data at the disposal of the International Organization for Migration show that nearly 60-17 million illegal migrants passed through Gao on their way to the Mediterranean coast opposite the Italian coast: an increase of % compared to the same data in 2022. The center, which will soon begin operating with new Italian funding, aims to help migrants passing through Gao and make them aware of the very serious risks they will face entering the Sahara Desert a little further north.