Egypt rejects establishing refugee camps on its lands: Shoukry

CAIRO – 16 December 2017: Egypt rejects setting up any refugee camp on its lands, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry stressed in a Saturday statement.

Shoukry made the remarks during his meeting with European commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is currently on a visit to Cairo.

According to a statement, the meeting aimed to launch the first round of Egypt-EU high-level institutional dialogue on migration, the first forum of its kind between the two sides on constructive dialogue, interaction and exchanging views.

Meanwhile, Shoukry noted that Egypt has a successful experience in dealing with illegal immigration, indicating in this regard that the number of Egyptian illegal migrants in the Mediterranean has lately seen a sharp decline.

No ship was detected leaving the Egyptian coasts for Europe since September 2016, he said.

The European official underlined the European Union's commitment to cooperating with Egypt in combating illegal immigration, saying that a sum of $60 million has been allocated by the EU for the first phase of this cooperation.