A "strong desire" for cooperation exists between Italy and Albania, including over illegal immigration, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said Wednesday after talks in Rome with Albanian premier Edi Rama.
"There is a strong desire to cooperate with Albania, also on the migrant issue," Tajani said.
Italy's finance police are already working in Albania with local law enforcement agencies to smash human, arms and drugs trafficking organisations, Tajani recalled.
''The Balkan route and irregular migrant numbers must be kept under control," Tajani underlined.
"We need to work with the Balkan countries to counter human traffickers," he said.
Underscoring remarks at the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Tajani said that there could be no rapid resolution of the problem of migration.
"We need strong action by the European Union and the UN...the migration problem does not belong any single state," said Tajani
Migration is a "public order but above all a strategic issue," he stated.
"Hundreds of thousands of people are going to the world's North via the Balkan route and the Mediterranean Sea."
