Co-development won´t halt massive immigration

News desk CARLOS Clemente, the director general of immigration in the community of Madrid, said yesterday that policies of co-development wouldn't stop massive immigration into European countries. He said that the majority of foreigners who come to Spain wanted to establish themselves here and bring their families. Very few wanted to return to their country of origin. He was speaking minutes before taking part in the second and last day of the first Seminar of Immigration and Co-development in the Balearic Islands. He said that these types of initiatives, consisting of training immigrants so that they can return to their native countries as entrepreneurs, were condemned to be very transitory. “We are all equal”, he said. “Nobody dares to challenge these policies because nobody knows for certain whether or not they will be successful”. The challenge is to introduce policies which give “opportunites” to those people who want to return to their country of origin. During his speech, entitled “Policies and experiences of co-development in Spain”, Clemente talked about the initiatives which the Community of Madrid had introduced, consisting of micro credits (loans without security or guarantees) and training in the country of origin, like Ecuador and Colombia, and of training immigrants as entrepreneurs in Spain. The loans are not a panacea for reducing poverty, although they do help.