Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Sunday that preserving roots while cultivating a global outlook is the path to creating jobs and prosperity.
Speaking at the 28th Meeting for Friendship among Peoples in the seaside town of Rimini, the PM said Italian cities and businesses "have been open to the world for centuries" and that Italian multinationals "have roots in the (home) territory".
"This is what makes Italian companies competitive," Gentiloni said, crediting government policies for Italy's economic recovery.
"The challenge over the coming years will be the quality of growth, in terms of jobs and combating social exclusion," Gentiloni said.
His government's next domestic budget, he said, will focus on creating jobs for young people through "permanent, stable incentives" for employers.
Gentiloni said that while his center-left Democratic Party has a "a noble history of defending existing jobs, the enormous speed of innovation means some shock incentives are needed to create new jobs" in a rapidly evolving digital world and economy.
"We must keep up with the rhythm of innovation," Gentiloni said. "The scenarios that have already been written are becoming more and more inapplicable."
Gentiloni also upheld the government's migration management policies -- such as its code of conduct for humanitarian sea rescue NGOs, the fight against human traffickers, and the stabilization of Libya.
"Exclusion and denial of reality are not the answer," Gentiloni said.
"They are not a guarantee of safety, but rather of insecurity for our country," he said in reference to arguments by center-right and anti-immigrant parties that letting migrants and asylum seekers into the country increases the chances of letting in terrorists.
"We must invest in Africa and the Mediterranean, promote development, and make migration manageable by defeating human trafficking," Gentiloni said.
The mass migration of tens of thousands of people fleeing wars and famine in Africa and the Middle East is a long-term phenomenon, and it is better to try to manage it than to put up barriers, Gentiloni said.
