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Britain to help Italian intelligence fight migrant traffickers: Cameron

Xinhua, June 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday after holding talks with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi that Britain plans to provide resources to Italian intelligence to combat migrant traffickers.

"We talked about the migrant crisis. We are certainly aware that this is an issue on which we have to work together at the European level," Cameron told journalists following a meeting with Renzi at the world exposition in Milan.

"We need a global approach to work with the intelligence services in Sicily (southern Italy) where we will place people and resources to try to interrupt the links," Cameron said.

The British prime minister recalled that his country is committed with a large and increasing aid program aimed at stabilizing the poverty stricken nations of Africa from which countless migrants are fleeing via Mediterranean Sea.

"We absolutely agree that we need a global approach to see a new government in Libya that will hunt down criminal organizations," Cameron went on saying. Meanwhile the British Royal Navy is also rescuing migrants in trouble in the Mediterranean Sea, he underlined.

"We know there are different view points within the European Union (EU) but I think we share the same values and this is not only an Italian, but a European problem," Renzi said.

"The modalities to face this issue are being discussed in these hours, starting from the necessity to face the problem in Africa," he added.

Renzi said the two leaders also discussed bilateral relations. He said there is large space for collaboration with Britain and with the leadership of Cameron, stressing "there is no future for Europe without the UK as a key partner."

In the past days the migrant crisis has deepened in Italy, where police had to evacuate around 100 migrants camped on seaside rocks in the northern town of Ventimiglia after France refused their entry.

Meanwhile, groups of migrants slept outside railway stations in major cities such as Milan and Rome, prompting local authorities to put in place emergency measures which added to the country's overcrowded refugee centers.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said after meeting his European counterparts on the migrant crisis in Luxembourg on Tuesday that some significant "openings of positions" have been achieved. Enditem