Italy must make a sharp improvement in its foreign policy, far-right interior minister and deputy premier Matteo Salvini told prime minister Giuseppe Conte and foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Friday in a letter.
"We need a real qualitative leap in all aspects of Italy's foreign policy; we need to focus more on economic, trade and diplomatic ties which are beyond the remit of my ministry," wrote Salvini.
The letter urged the cabinet to draw up new bilateral repatriation agreements for migrants whose asylum applications are rejected and called for a government-wide strategy.
Salvini claimed his ministry had obtained "good results" in deporting "migrants who do not have the right" to stay in Italy, where for the first time expulsions exceeded arrivals.
"But is clear that the problem transcends national boundaries and must be addressed more widely," the letter went on.
The missive urged "binding" accords with migrants' home countries and transit countries - both at bilateral and European level.
