On the final day of the Valletta Summit on Migration, the European Union offers 1.8 billion euros in aid to Africa.
ADVERTISEMENTAs the Valletta Summit on Migration drew to a close, European Union and African leaders signed an Emergency Trust Fund agreement to assist the development of African nations.
Bankrolled by the EU, the fund also aims to encourage the countries to take back nationals who have migrated to Europe.
It has been initially set at 1.8 billion euros.
The accord comes as Sweden begins imposing temporary controls on the frontier, saying its open-border system has been strained to the limit.
“We are all in a difficult situation. Sweden has received so many refugees, far more than any other countries per capita…This is not a fence. We need to make sure we have control over [how many] people come into Sweden,” said Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.
Sweden says it has “shouldered the greatest responsibility for the refugee crisis,” predicting that up to 190,000 asylum seekers could arrive in 2015.
Our reporter James Franey was in Malta. He said:
“The focus now shifts to Turkey, which this weekend hosts the G20 Summit, a forum normally dedicated to economic policy. There, the EU hopes to convince the world’s biggest economies that Europe’s migration crisis is theirs as well.”