'The Mediterranean must not be a cemetery' says Tajani

(see related stories) (ANSA) - ROME, JUL 23 - Italy wants the broader Mediterranean area to be a "sea of peace and progress" rather than a cemetery for people seeking safety and a better life in Europe, Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday.
    "Rome has always been, and wants to be, a crossroads between peoples who want to build a new season together," said Tajani at the opening of the international conference on migration and development underway in Rome.
    "We do not want the Mediterranean to be a cemetery of people leaving their homes; instead, we want the Mediterranean extending as far as the Indo-Pacific region to be a sea of peace and progress," he added.
    Migration, said the foreign minister is not the only "big problem we are facing". "We have to solve the migration issue at its root, we have to deal with the big question of climate change, the fight against terrorism, disease, because often the major traffickers of human beings are the same people that traffic in arms and drugs," said Tajani. (ANSA).