Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visits Albania to thank country for hosting 2 migrant centers
By LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is visiting Albania to thank the tiny Western Balkan country for its help hosting thousands of asylum seekers rescued from international waters. The visit comes just days before European Parliament elections, in which migration has been a key campaign issue. Last November Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama and Meloni signed a 5-year deal to shelter each month up to 3,000 migrants rescued from international waters. Meloni on Wednesday was starting her visit to Gjader, a former military airport 80 kilometers north of the capital Tirana, where work for one of two sheltering centers has started.