http://www.opinione-pubblica.com/eritrea-fais-litalia-ancora-indietro-nei-rapporti-asmara/
Eritrea: Andrea Fais, "Italy is still behind in its relations with Asmara"
Today we have with us the director of the magazine International Scenarios, Andrea Fais. With him we talked about a country of which we often hear narrating little, Eritrea. Geographically located in the Horn of Africa to near the Red Sea, Eritrea is a country emerging from years due to the hard struggles for independence. Now it's a state that seeks stability and development; an investment opportunity for the government and Italian companies, which, however, risk being overtaken by other European countries.
October 14, 2016
In these days it comes out the new issue of "International Scenarios", entitled The Eye of the Horn of Africa , dedicated to Eritrea. How did the idea of a number dedicated to this country? And most importantly, why?
Born from the need to shift our goal on Africa. Until now we spoke only of Angola, in the special issue dedicated Expo in Milan. The report made within the Angolan pavilion had allowed us to touch a different and innovative face of Africa. There are actually very dynamic and I speak not only of major players such as South Africa, Nigeria, Angola and Sudan. World Bank data show growth of the African continent by 3% in 2016, after having reached the last ten years of 5-6% peaks.
The opening of the Asian markets has been decisive, with significant impact on extreme poverty fell from 57% to 43% between 1990 and 2012. There is still much to do but to escape from the territories, combined with the fall in the price of raw materials, could reverse the trend in the coming years. Eritrea is one of those countries that pursues the development of human resources, the growth of the know-how of infrastructure and agriculture and in general a paradigm of sustainable development, diversified and not based exclusively on exports of raw materials. Clearly it pays the price for slow times, partly because of sanctions imposed by the UN some years ago. The European Union, however, seems to have understood the potential of Asmara, approving major investment plans in the country. For this, we wanted to learn more.
We often speak of Eritrea as a difficult country, in particular as regards its foreign policy attitudes and the migratory situation that also involves Europe. What could be said in this regard?
Eritrea is one of those topics that we can define "thorny". Yet, our task is to make wide-ranging investigation, setting aside prejudices. They gravitate many of this country and the vast majority are in whole or in part unfounded. One of these concerns the question of migration and data in hand, we found that many young immigrants in Eastern Africa fleeing said they came from Eritrea to more easily obtain the status of political refugee, although actually escaping from other countries. This is not to say that Eritrea do not leave anybody but that the alleged size of the run flow and apocalyptic tones with which describes the country are the result of an alteration.
The major moves at the international accusations are those of having financed the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab and violating human rights. The first has never been proven by any investigation and even the UN has had to take note of the reports of its Monitoring Group (SEMG). The second is directly linked to the testimonies of those migrants who arrived in Europe, claiming to be Eritreans and therefore have a personal interest to lend the political campaign against Asmara.
Eritrea is a multi-confessional, secular country, has just over 5 million inhabitants, and has good prospects for growth between now and 2020: + 3.3% according to Trading Economics. It can not, therefore, be seen as a threat.
The recent agreements between Eritrea and the European Union give way to new hopes for greater cooperation between the two political and geographical reality. In this regard, what is the potential of economic, political and so on, between Eritrea and our country?
Our country has a unique historical advantage in Eritrea. Beyond iniquity and oppressive character of foreign domination, the colonial period between 1890 and 1941 has left their mark in the country: urban planning, infrastructure, sports and above all a large Italian-Eritrean community and knowledge of our language, a key vehicle in the facilitation of political, economic and commercial.
According to the data, however, Italy is still behind other Western countries which established fruitful relations with Eritrea, especially in the mining sector. Without forgetting that the port area of Assab overlooking the Red Sea at the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, a hub from enormous strategic value for businesses and for international security. We can and must do more. The fact that the Eritrean government points very diversification and sustainability leaves our companies a wide range of possibilities in terms of trade and investments, especially in the field of agriculture and food security, in the context of renewable energy, infrastructure and in shipbuilding.
Italy at this time is experiencing a rather complex stage, between intentions of reforms and debate on economic recovery. To what extent all these measures will affect the "Italian" system even affect the country's ability to relate to the outside?
To win Yes or No in the referendum, Italy needs a strong plan for the revitalization of businesses and labor. This does not mean that the resolutions of constitutional change places as president of the Council Matteo Renzi Count little or nothing. They have a significant importance in the context of the new plant which will give Italy.
However, the institutional redefinition and election rules are associated economic and social reforms of long breath. Compared to the era Monti the tax burden on SMEs fell by around 3%, a noticeable result, but still insufficient.
We will assess the Jobs Act in time but in general should be reviewed the approach of the last twenty years, in which the welfare state was often seen more as a burden to be reduced to the bone and as a network of dampers, critical to the well-being and l ' balance between supply and demand. Be slipped twenty-five years from the fourth to eighth place in the world economic ranking is a given heavy. Yet, considering the high price for return to the Maastricht criteria in 1996, the international crisis of 2008 and the internal crisis of 2011-2013, we must ask instead how many other countries, other things being equal, would be able to remain among the top ten world economies.
Italy's strength lies in creativity and flexibility, in the international field. Our foreign policy has almost never lost touch with the reality of structural needs, beyond the strictly political alliances. Some consider him emblematic of our supposed unreliability, I believe that it is rather the refusal to destroy themselves on other people's request.
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Received on Fri Oct 14 2016 - 05:42:28 EDT