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An Italian navy ship on Wednesday docked at the Albanian port of Shengjin to bring the first group of 16 migrants intercepted in international waters.
The naval ship Libra left the port of Lampedusa on Monday with 16 men — 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt — who were rescued at sea after departing from Libya, a ministry spokesman said.
Last week Italy formally opened two centers in Albania where it plans to process thousands of asylum-seekers outside its borders.
Under a five-year deal signed last November by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, up to 3,000 migrants picked up by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month will be sheltered in Albania.
The controversial agreement to outsource the housing of asylum-seekers to a non-EU member country has been hailed by some countries that, like Italy, are suffering a heavy burden of refugees.
But it has been slammed by human rights groups as setting a dangerous precedent.
