Government spokesman: Mauritania is open to Migrants Provided they abide by Legal Controls

Mauritania is open to migrants, but in a legal way, and its position on migration has not changed, said Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesman, Housseiin Ould Medou, denying rumors on some social media networks on the subject.

Commenting on the results of the cabinet meeting Thursday evening in Nouakchott, accompanied by the Health Minister Abdallahi Ould Wedih, he stressed that the recent deportation of people who entered the country illegally is exaggerated, as it does not exceed the implementation of international and bilateral agreements in the field of combating irregular migration, in cooperation and coordination with the countries of those deported.

He stressed that Mauritania has granted all the facilities required for migrants to regularize their residency status, such as exemption from residency fees, especially migrants from countries with which we have bilateral relations, but some of them did not care to obtain residency, citing the example of what happened in 2022, in which 130,000 migrants entered Mauritania and only 7,000 of them were requested to stay.

He added that Mauritania, in the framework of the fight against irregular migration, has been able in recent days to dismantle four networks for smuggling migrants of different nationalities, stressing that what links Mauritania to Europe in the field of migration is what links it to other countries of the world, denying what some say that Mauritania has become a gendarmerie for Europeans.

For his part, the Minister of Health, Mr. Abdallahi Ould Wedih, said during his comment on the progress of reform in the pharmaceutical sector, that the sector has developed a plan for pharmacy reform during the past four months, reflecting the great interest paid by His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, to the health sector in his electoral program, by establishing an effective system for medicines that allows sustainable access to them.

He explained that the aforementioned plan relies on a comprehensive approach with a long breath, including a diagnosis of the reality of pharmacy and proposing solutions to its problems, stressing that among the solutions that have been completed are the identification of a list of registered medicines, securing storage during the transport of medicines, the start of a system for tracking medicines, and the identification of two points of entry for medicines (Nouakchott International Oumtounsi Airport , and the independent port of Nouakchott known as the “Port of Friendship”).

Regarding the proposed solutions, the Minister said that the statement proposes to develop a national plan to combat underquality medicines, review the book of obligations for preserving medicines, strengthen the institutional capabilities of the pharmaceutical company, and strengthen the capabilities of the internal inspectorate in the ministry.

He stressed the need for concerted efforts between the concerned sectors to mitigate the phenomenon of counterfeiting and smuggling of medicines, which is a global problem that is difficult to eradicate, especially in sub-Saharan countries, as the profits of this trade are estimated at $ 200 billion annually, 42% of which is in Africa alone, and causes the death of half a million in the continent.