Italy has announced a plan to keep Mediterranean migrants off its territory by handling asylum claims at new centres to be built in Albania.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the shelters would have space for 3,000 people at a time when they open next spring. She said they could eventually handle 36,000 migrants a year.
The centres will be used for “speedy processing” of asylum applications from migrants rescued at sea, the Italian government said.
Italy will pay for the centres at the port of Shengjin and the Gjader area in north-western Albania, as it tries to bring down swelling numbers of migrants.
Children, pregnant women and “vulnerable people” will not be sent to the centres, Ms Meloni said after a meeting with Albanian counterpart Edi Rama.
Although Ms Meloni campaigned for a hard line on migration, more than 145,000 people have landed on Italian shores so far this year, compared with 88,000 in the same period last year.
Under EU rules, the nation where they first set foot must process their applications.
Mr Rama said Italy's geography, with the nation jutting southward into the Mediterranean, was “its curse. When you enter Italy, you enter the EU”.
The Italian government backs Albania's ambition to join the 27-member bloc.
“Lending a hand, in this case, means helping to manage a situation that everyone sees it is difficult for Italy,” Mr Rama said.
Ms Meloni said people “will stay in these centres for the time necessary to quickly process asylum applications and, if necessary, for repatriation”.
“I consider this as a truly European agreement, and I want to say that it shows that it is possible to work together on the management of migratory flows,” Ms Meloni said.
Ms Meloni's hard-right Brothers of Italy party has long called for asylum centres to be set up outside the EU, proposing, for example, North Africa, but no country from that region had accepted.
The main countries migrants have arrived from in Italy in 2023 were Guinea, Ivory Coast and Tunisia.
Non-EU member Britain hopes to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to deter them from crossing the English Channel, under an arrangement with the African country.
Nobody has been deported so far because of legal challenges that are currently before the UK's Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Germany agreed on a tougher stance in late-night negotiations with the leaders of its 16 states, where authorities say they are overwhelmed by the number of asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government agreed to look into the possibility of handling asylum claims in third countries, although it has been sceptical about whether this is possible.
It also agreed to pay local authorities €7,500 ($8,030) per refugee from next year and lengthen the time before people are eligible for benefits.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Test squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan(wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
Twenty20 squad: Babar Azam (captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz
