Today, Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner held a working meeting with the Tunisian Minister of the Interior Kamel Fekih in Krems an der Donau and showed his colleague the beautiful Wachau. The content was about migration. Tunisia is one of the largest transit countries for migrants from North Africa to Europe.
The focus of the conversation was on the areas of migration, combating smugglers, border protection and security. With his visit to Vienna, Fekih responds to the joint working visit of Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner and Danish Minister of Migration Kaare Dybvad Bek to Tunis at the end of 2023.
“Tunisia has made great efforts to strengthen border protection. The training center in the border town of Nefta, which was built by Austria, among others, also plays a central role,” says Karner.
In November 2023, the border guard training center in Nefta on the border with Algeria was jointly opened. To date, 26 courses with 214 participants and 15 training sessions with 152 people have taken place there. In a second step, the center will be further expanded, which was also the subject of the discussions. Even as a transit country, Tunisia is affected by illegal migration. Close operational cooperation to combat smugglers is therefore planned. Working discussions will also take place between researchers and police officers in Vienna in April.
Karner attributes the current decline in the number of asylum seekers to consistent measures by the Ministry of the Interior in the fight against asylum abuse and human trafficking. The number of asylum applications among Tunisian citizens fell from 13,000 in 2022 to 437 the year before. So far this year, sixty asylum applications from Tunisians have been submitted.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
