Algeria will not host hotspots - processing centres for migrants seeking asylum or refugee status in Europe - the country's prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia said on Monday.
"Algeria categorically refuses to open these centres," Ouyahia told reporters during a press conference in Algiers with Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte.
Ouyahia said he had not discussed such hotspots in talks with Conte on Monday.
"We did not talks about these. We did not discuss the phenomenon that the Mediterranean is experiencing," he said,.
Ouyahia was referring to the many tens of the thousands of migrants who head for Europe each year - the great majority of whom set sail from North Africa across the Mediterranean.
Libya and Tunisia's governments have also rejected migrant processing centres on their soil - an idea backed by Italy's populist government.
