LONDON

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama on Thursday at Downing Street, where they discussed tackling illegal migration and protecting the security of their countries' citizens.

"The leaders set out their shared ambition to broaden and deepen the UK-Albania relationship, cooperating on addressing global and regional threats and strengthening our bilateral partnership," said a statement by the UK Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, the two leaders committed to deepen work under the Joint Communique and Taskforce that was agreed to in December and to take forward their joint shared priority on tackling illegal migration and criminal people-smuggling gangs.

Sunak and Rama also welcomed the progress to date, with around 800 illegal migrants returning to Albania since December, the statement said.

On March 8, Sunak told the House of Commons that his government already had return agreements with several countries including India, Pakistan, Serbia and Nigeria, while another deal with Albania was allowing the UK to return "hundreds of people."

Meanwhile, they also agreed that a joint UK-Albanian team will conduct "an assessment of Albania’s prison capacity," with a view to returning all eligible Albanian nationals in the UK prison system.

"As NATO allies, fellow members of the UN Security Council and close partners, the leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to working together to protect the security of our citizens, defend democracy and promote human rights, including through a robust international response to aggression by Russia," it added.