Italy and Tunisia want to deepen their energy and migration cooperation, premier Giorgia Meloni said after talks in Tunis with president Kais Saied on Wednesday during which three key deals were signed.
"Energy is one of the areas where Italy and Tunisia must keep strengthening their collaboration. Also thanks to Italy, cooperation with Tunisia has become a priority for the European Union," Meloni told reporters.
"This cooperation has got a lot of results, for example concerning the management of migration," she said.
Meloni thanked Saied and Tunisia's authorities for working together to fight human trafficking in the Mediterranean.
"We want to involve international organisations and work on repatriations, but above all we want to work on legal migration channels," Meloni stated.
Meloni cited as tangible progress on legal migration a government decree allowing 12,000 skilled Tunisians to come and work in Italy.
"Italy can do much more on legal migration but it's crucial to work together to combat the enslavers of the third millennium and mafia organisations which make easy money by exploiting people's legitimate aspirations for a better life," Meloni stated.
The accords inked on Wednesday cover support for Tunisia's state budget for energy efficiency and renewable energy; credit for Tunisian small-and-medium-sized enterprises; and a memorandum of understanding between the two countries' higher education ministries.
The agreements were hammered out within the framework of Italy's recently unveiled 'Mattei' plan to stabilise and develop Africa economically through 'non-predatory' partnerships in the energy, infrastructure and six other core sectors, including education, agriculture and health.
Italy will become a major energy 'hub' under the blueprint - named after Italian major Eni's founder Enrico Mattei - distributing gas from North Africa and the Mediterranean to the rest of Europe
Meloni's visit to Tunisia on Wednesday was her fourth in less than a year.
