Italy commends Albania for stopping illegal immigration

TIRANA, April 22 – At a recent conference held in Rome, Italy mentioned Albania as an example of how illegal immigration is stopped.
Italian Interior Ministry held the conference last week with Mediterranean countries and their border officials.
Illegal immigration is a high topic of interest for neighboring Italy which normally has to cope with hundreds of illegal immigrants coming from northern African countries.
Before, Albania had been not only a country of origin but also one of transit for hundreds of thousands of immigrants coming from Asian and other eastern European countries.
That was stopped after successful collaboration between the police of the two countries and also joint sea patrols.
Italian Minister of the Interior Roberto Maroni mentioned Albania at the conference as a positive example of how a country, once of mass illegal immigration, had zero immigration.
It was made clear by all participants that Albania had disappeared from the map of the illegal immigration toward EU member countries.