Merkel says to support Italy in tackling migration challenge

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Berlin wanted to support Italy in its efforts to reduce the number of migrants arriving on its shores by possibly handling asylum requests for Europe in non-European countries such as Libya.

"Italy is one of the countries that is receiving a lot of refugees as a first arrival country," Merkel told reporters ahead of talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Berlin.

"Especially the question how we can achieve a stable government in Libya... and how we can, if necessary, carry out asylum-related proceedings already there. These are all questions that we will discuss in the coming months and where we want to work very closely together."