ISLAM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE

159 MARE NOSTRUM AND IMMIGRATION ALDAI - 29/10 - 2014 We are honoured to have saved thou- sands of lives on the run from the southern shore of the Mediterranean. It reminds us that between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries millions of Europeans migrated to Africa where they settled, contributing substantially to the economic and cultural development of African countries but wi- thout having taken root in the social fabric they found themselves expelled, forced to return to their countries of origin. After the Second World War the African coun- tries started a strong campaign of demo- graphic development with the result over fifty years of tripling the number of their inhabitants; but there was also a growing impoverishment because demographic development was not accompanied by adequate economic growth. In the same period Europe has grown economically with an older population that is demo- graphically stable, creating a gap that young Africans are trying to bridge; just think that Egypt's GDP does not exceed that of the province of Milan alone. Cultural and technological promotion Of course, Europe and Italy in particular has an interest in a stable Middle East and North Africa, but such an objective is possible by promoting technological development, guaranteeing the flow of oil, curbing emigration, creating a clima- te of trust among the populations and achieving the security of agreed and re- cognized borders. North Africa and the Middle East represent a market of over three hundred million inhabitants just a few hours away from Italy but which re- ceives little investment attention outside the energy field. It is necessary to develop a strategy to favour the expansion of our medium enterprise towards these mar- kets with a profitable return for the actors in terms of development of the exchange area, of the African society in this case Arab society, and of return on the invest- ment made. At the political level, it is im- portant that the West, in technological or market exchanges, knows how to com- bine cultural exchanges with reciprocity criteria with the effective promotion in the country of the values of civil and religious freedom for all without any discrimination and that, in this regard, there is intense monitoring. Immigration Today in our cities are concentrated va- rious ethnic groups, each with its own ha- bits and beliefs, each inclined to demand exceptions in the legal provisions of the state to allow a given category to survive the social life of the country of origin, with the risk of creating tensions or situations of better favour between the different social components. The immigration of Arabs, Christians and Muslims, has made us aware of the basic identity and values on which our civilization has developed but to which many of us have become ac- customed; I consider it an example of the wealth that can be generated by globali- zation. It is a wealth that can be achieved by offering the immigrant person dignity and the opportunity for human develop- ment for proactive integration, in contrast to exclusion. Inclusion, on the other hand,