Italy and Turkey have agreed to step up their cooperation against irregular migration, particularly of people coming from Libya. That's according to news agency AFP, citing the two countries' foreign ministers.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, on Thursday (September 11) signed an "operational document" with the goal of closer cooperation between their respective coast guards to combat human trafficking and transnational organized crime, Tajani said at a joint press conference in Rome.

"This will prove very useful in Libya, particularly in preventing the departure" of irregular migrants to Europe, the minister said.

"We will work together to train law enforcement agencies to dismantle criminal networks in the Mediterranean," Tajani added.

The European Union and individual EU member state governments, like Italy, have in the past struck various deals with Libya to encourage tighter migration management and try and prevent boats from leaving the country in the first place.

The northern African country has long become a key transit country for thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea each year.

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'Strategic partnership'

Fidan meanwhile expressed his resolve to "strengthen the strategic partnership" between Italy and Turkey, Reuters reported, while also emphasizing the need for a political process in Libya to ensure the country's "stability".

"Our two countries have an interest in Libya's stability," Tajani added, referring to the fact that Libya is run by two rivalling governments: the internationally recognized government in the west of the country, based in the official capital, Tripoli, and the renegade administration spearheaded by military commander Khalifa Haftar in the east, based in Benghazi.

In August, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted a mini-summit in Istanbul focusing on migration and stability in Libya.

The event was also attended by prime ministers Georgia Meloni of Italy and Abdelhamid Dbeiba of Libya; however, Haftar notably was absent.

Italy is already party to the so-called EU-Turkey deal which was reached 2016, under which Turkey is responsible for holding back migrants from making their way to the EU.

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Libya and Turkey moving closer together

A press release on "operational proposals" published by the Italian foreign ministry on Thursday said the governments of both countries would "consider working together and coordinating efforts in combating human trafficking and managing migration according to international standards," according to Reuters.

It also said they were mulling the option of "providing training to the law-enforcement agencies of requesting parties on organized crime related to migrant smuggling and human trafficking" as well as providing assistance in related investigations.

with AFP