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President Meloni meets with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi

31 January 2023

The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, met this afternoon with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. 
President Meloni confirmed the Italian Government’s appreciation for the UN Refugee Agency’s work for the protection and welfare of refugees, and underlined the UNHCR’s excellent cooperation with Italy, especially in Libya and the Sahel and in creating humanitarian corridors. She also stressed the need to move beyond an ideological approach that confuses legitimate protection for refugees with policies for economic migrants, confirming the Government’s commitment to urgently have a European management of migration flows that includes structural measures and cooperation with African countries. 
High Commissioner Grandi thanked Italy for the constant support it provides to the UNHCR and shared the importance of ensuring management of migration flows at EU level, with strategic investments in Africa. 
With regard to Ukraine, President Meloni and High Commissioner Grandi shared reflections on the need to find a path to peace as soon as possible, in order to bring the population’s suffering to an end and proceed with the country’s reconstruction.