Migration is a global issue that cannot be tackled by one country or one region alone, but requires cooperation with the countries of origin, transit and destination, emphasized High Representative Josep Borrell, during the joint press conference he gave in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

Referring to the shipwreck off Pylos, Mr. Borrell noted that this “clearly indicates that we must redouble our efforts to implement a sustainable, humane and safe immigration system. This is a global issue that cannot be tackled by one country or region alone. We need to work together, as we did with Egypt, with the countries of origin, transit and destination to avoid this drama from happening again.”

“We must take tough decisions against traffickers who put people’s lives at risk knowing the risk they are taking. We have to do it fast. We cannot sit by while children drown in the Mediterranean,” added the EU High Representative.

He also referred to the EU’s €80m to Egypt “for border management, search and rescue and operations against traffickers”. “You are not a transit country, you host a lot of migrants,” Josep Borrell pointed out, stressing that the EU wants to work with Cairo to protect the borders and fight “against the traffickers who are responsible for the people who die in the sea ​​or in its desert