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Italy’s PM Meloni seeks broad cooperation to curb flows of migrants to Europe

  • At a summit of Mediterranean leaders in Rome on Sunday, Giorgia Meloni laid the foundations for a fund to finance investment projects and support border controls
  • During her 2022 election campaign, Meloni vowed to ‘stop the disembarkation’ of migrants in Italy

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Migrants trying to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa from the northern coast of Africa. File photo: EPA
Agence France-Presse

Italy hosted Mediterranean leaders in Rome on Sunday at a conference aimed at extending an EU-backed deal with Tunisia to curb the arrival of migrants on European shores.

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The summit convened by Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni laid the foundations for a fund to finance investment projects and support border controls, with a medium-term aim of better regulating migratory flows.

Opening the conference, Meloni said talks would focus on illegal and legal immigration, refugee support and “the most important … wide cooperation to support development in Africa”.

The day of talks was the “start of a process” that would be followed with a donors’ conference to finance investment projects and support border control, Meloni said, adding that no date had yet been set.

Delegates pose for a photo during an international conference on migration in Rome, Italy on Sunday. Photo: Palazzo Chigi / Handout via Reuters
Delegates pose for a photo during an international conference on migration in Rome, Italy on Sunday. Photo: Palazzo Chigi / Handout via Reuters
The United Arab Emirates pledged €100 million (US$111 million) to that fund, Meloni said in a press conference following the meeting.
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