LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will hold a bilateral meeting with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Saturday to discuss their shared efforts to tackle illegal migration, Sunak’s spokesman said on Thursday.
Meloni’s office said on Wednesday that Sunak would attend a political event in Rome organised by her right-wing party. Among other politicians set to attend are Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Spanish far-right leader Santiago Abascal.
“The prime minister will travel to Rome on Saturday. He will have a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime minister, expected to focus on shared efforts to combat illegal migration,” Sunak’s spokesman said.
Sunak is seeking to revive his plan to deport to Rwanda asylum seekers who arrive illegally in Britain, after the UK Supreme Court said it would breach British and international human rights laws and agreements.
“They have talked before as G7 leaders about the challenge that Europe is facing on migration, particularly on illegal migration … so these are very much shared challenges,” the spokesman added.
“Italy are one of a number of European countries that are exploring partnerships similar to that we have with Rwanda.”
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Writing by Kylie MacLellan, editing by Sarah Young)
