Italy will host a total 1,200 refugees from crisis-hit Afghanistan under an accord inked on Thursday between the government, two United Nations agencies and various civil society organisations.
The Afghans will enter Italy legally under the Memorandum of Understanding - the initiative of foreign minister Luigi Di Maio - and will arrive from Iran and Pakistan, said a foreign ministry statement.
"In a sign of the Italian government's commitment to welcoming Afghan refugees, the MoU confirms and renews Italy's 'good practice' of humanitarian corridors - the most advanced in Europe," the statement underlined.
Foreign ministry migration director-general Luigi Maria Vignali, interior minister Luciana Lamorgese, representatives of the Organisation for Migration and UN refugee agency UNHCR, Catholic charity Comunita di Sant'Egidio and a number of other civil society organisations took part in the MoU signing ceremony, said the statement.
