Italy and Albania have reached an agreement to temporarily shelter some migrants who reach Italian shores while their asylum applications are processed, AP News reports.
This initiative was announced following a meeting between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Rome.
Italy will fund the construction of two centers in Albania capable of accommodating up to 3,000 migrants, children and pregnant women will be excluded from the plan. If Italy rejects their asylum applications, Albania will deport the migrants.
This move aims to reduce overcrowding in Italy’s initial asylum processing centers for migrants arriving from the Mediterranean. So far this year, Italy has received 145,000 migrants arriving by sea, compared to 88,000 in the same period last year.
