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Portuguese president calls for efforts to resolve conflict, avoid refugee crisis

Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

European countries should make efforts in resolving conflicts in countries like Libya, Syria and Iraq to avoid refugee crisis, Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva said on Tuesday.

"I hope that the effort that Europe is dedicating, and other countries like the United States of America, Canada, Japan and Australia are dedicating to take in refugees can also dedicate themselves to resolving conflicts that are generating these migratory movements and are extremely difficult to control," he said at a press conference alongside his Senegal counterpart Macky Sall.

He added that it was important not only to accept refugees but also to "create conditions so that these people can stay in their homes," namely employment and development.

No country can remain "indifferent" to the "tragedy of refugees," he said, and each country should show solidarity within their possibilities.

Macky Sall also said there was a close relationship between insecurity, war and migratory movements and agreed that it was vital to "work with populations in their territories" so that they can stay in their home countries.

Sall's visit to Portugal came at a time when Europe faces the greatest migration crisis since the Second World War, with around 4 million people fleeing Syria since the war began in 2011.

Towards the end of the conference, Cavaco Silva also pointed to the "relatively modest" commercial relations between Portugal and Senegal, which he said could experience a "significant impulse" and highlighted business people's growing interest in the African country's dynamic economy.

Sall said a new phase in bilateral relations had begun and that there was a "well set up frame-work of cooperation" between both countries.

The Senegalese president arrived in Lisbon on Tuesday and is attending meetings with Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and President of the Assembly of the Republic Asuncao Esteves, among other officials.

On Wednesday, he will participate in a bilateral business forum in Lisbon. Enditem