Italy seeks to increase legal immigration in cooperation with Morocco

Italian Minister of Interior Giorgio Napolitano said in Rabat on Wednesday that his country wishes to increase the flow of legal immigrants in cooperation with Morocco and other south Mediterranean countries.

The Italian official who paid on Wednesday a brief visit to Morocco where he reviewed with Moroccan Interior Minister Driss Basri issues pertaining to immigration, hailed as "remarkable" the results of his talks.

Talks covered bilateral cooperation in issues pertaining to the competence of the two ministers and focused on means to regulate and control the migration flow between Morocco and Italy in light of the agreement signed in July by the foreign ministers of the two countries.

The agreement deals with the identification of Moroccan nationals who have entered Italy illegally and their repatriation to Morocco.

After he stressed that his talks with Basri are held pursuant to the conference of west Mediterranean countries interior ministers held last May in Naples, Napolitano said Italian officials -- particularly the president and the prime minister -- deem cooperation between Rabat and Rome "essential."