During an international meeting on irregular migration held in Tripoli last Tuesday (8 July), Tripoli based Libyan Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi said what concerns his government is the voluntary return of immigrants.
The high-level meeting to discuss the file of irregular migration under the chairmanship of the Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, included the participation of the Ministers of Interior of Italy and Malta, the Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, and the European Commissioner for Interior Affairs and Migration at the European Union Mission.
In his remarks, Trabelsi said in the past Libya deported 9,000 to 16,000 migrants per year, which is a small number compared to the number of irregular migrants in Libya.
He said the number of irregular migrants in Libya has reached 4 million, which is a very large number.
The government now has a clear and official plan to curb this phenomenon, and Libya will be one of Europe’s safe shores, he added.
We hope that a formal agreement will be signed between the European Union and the unity government regarding the country file, because Libya is one of the largest transit countries.
