Visiting Italian
President Sergio Mattarella and United States President Barack
Obama discussed Italy's part in the fight against ISIS and the
global refugee emergency in talks of over an hour at the White
House Monday.
Obama discussed with Mattarella the role Italy can play in
the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, in particular "the
fundamental role" Italy will play in reinforcing the area of
Mosul in northern Iraq, the White House said.
Obama thanked Italy for protecting the Mosul Dam.
Obama said "I thanked Italy very much for its notable
contribution in training soldiers in Iraq and for the important
role that it will play in protecting the Mosul Dam which is
extremely important for the Iraqi people".
Italy's Trevi construction group recently landed the
contract to repair and maintain the dam which was taken back
from ISIS last year.
Obama said that he and Mattarella also "talked about joint
efforts to help Libya form a government that will enable their
security forces to stabilise their territory and neutralise
ISIS".
Mattarella said after the talks that "for Libya, via the
transatlantic alliance, our collaboration is decisive to make
sure the international community resolves the dramatic problems
on the table by restoring stability and security".
Mattarella said that "close transatlantic cooperation
enables us today and will enable us to tackle new challenges and
defeat the enemies of peace and human rights".
Mattarella and Obama discussed the world's main crisis
areas, from Syria to Afghanistan and from Iraq to Libya, sources
said.
Obama said that "ties could not be closer and the
collaboration we have on a wide range of problems in the world
is extraordinary".
The US president also said that "we talked at length about
the problem of refugees and migrants that has had a terrible
impact on Europe and on Italy in particular".
He said "for the US this is not just Europe's problem but a
global problem that puts pressure on the US and the
transatlantic relationship".
Obama stressed that NATO and the EU must work together "to
dismantle human-trafficking networks".
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