27/05/24 (Agence Europe) – The agreement between Albania and Italy to transfer migrants rescued at sea by the Italian navy to Albanian centres will not be replicated, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told the Financial Times on Monday 27 May. The agreement reached is “one-off”. “It is a one-off, 100 per cent a one-off”, he said, despite the fact that several countries have approached his country about replicating the scheme. “I said no. Because it doesn’t make sense to me. Italy is very special to us, more than a strategic relation. It’s a very deeply rooted friendship”. In a letter sent to the Commission on 15 May (see EUROPE 13411/3), fifteen European governments suggested new ways of outsourcing migration and in particular encouraged the development of models based on the agreement between Italy and Albania. (SP)