Meloni was welcomed by the Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dabaiba, during an international forum on migration in Tripoli on Wednesday, July 17.

Meloni called for an end to "human trafficking... (which) is nowadays one of the world's most powerful criminal networks." She denounced criminal organizations that "want to decide who has the right to enter our country and who does not."

"We have not been able to allow many legal migrants to come to Italy in recent years because we have had too many illegal ones," she explained.

She pointed out that the Italian government for the past three years had passed decrees to expand the quotas for legal migrants.

Also read: Italy’s Meloni in Libya to talk migration

'Challenges cannot be faced alone'

Meloni commented on the importance of Italy and Libya working together, saying that the two countries have "greatly improved cooperation on various fronts."

"The challenges of our time cannot be faced alone, including that of migration. I see many friends here, the Prime Minister of Malta, the Prime Minister of Tunisia, Commissioner Schinas, all people who are trying to work together on the issue of migration," she added.

For Meloni, the first line of intervention "is the fight against human trafficking".

"There are people making huge amounts of money by exploiting the desperation of the vulnerable, and we cannot allow it. These organizations are becoming powerful, but they disregard human rights," she said.

Also read: Meloni presents plan to strengthen Africa's position -- but to whose benefit?

Working group to identify development projects

Participating countries of the forum agreed to form a "working group" to "identify priority development projects in African countries that are the source of migration," Libyan Communication Minister Walid Ellafi said.

Meloni said Italy was giving a good example via the Mattei Plan, which seeks to create a new partnership with African countries to address the root causes of irregular migration and turn Italy into a sort of hub for energy supplies.

Furthermore, an agreement was signed between Libya and Chad that would provide for either repatriating or regulating the status of Chadian migrants in Libya. The repatriations would include financial support to "voluntarily" return home, the Libyan government said in a statement.

Migrant arrivals in Italy from North Africa between January 1 and July 16 (30,348 arrivals) have decreased by 61 percent compared to last year. Of those, 17,659 people were recorded to have departed from Libya, and 11,001 from Tunisia, according to official figures.

Also read: Italian government closes ranks on migrants, bolsters patrol boats to Tunisia