Italian government 'doing its utmost' to integrate immigrants: President

Rome, June 2 (IANS/AKI) Italian President Sergio Mattarella praised the government's prefects - its top representatives in Italy's cities - saying they are doing all they can to integrate immigrants.

"Italy's prefects are doing their utmost to help and welcome migrants and this also applies to their efforts in the complex and essential processes of integration," Mattarella wrote in a letter to mark Republic Day on Friday.

"The prefects are also pulling out all the stops to foster dialogue with local communities, listening to migrants and their hosts to create the conditions for peaceful and lawful coexistence that respects human dignity," he added.

Italians and immigrants alike had a duty to uphold legality and security, Mattarella underlined, saying that doing so was "in the public interest".

Italy is at the front line of the ongoing migrants crisis in the Mediterranean that has seen arrivals by sea surge by around one third this year to some 60,000, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR issued on Tuesday.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers have reached Italy since 2014.

--IANS/AKI

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