ATHENS – Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi was received by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan during his visit to the country, the Greek migration ministry said in an announcement on Tuesday.

Earlier, Mitarachi held talks with Pakistan’s Advisor to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Muhammad Ayub Afridi, who heads the ministry for Overseas Pakistanis and HRD. Mitarachi and Afridi exchanged views on ways to enhance cooperation between Greece and Pakistan in the sectors of legal migration, as well as on tackling illegal arrivals to Greece, the Greek ministry said.

Mitarachi and Afridi agreed on the need to promote legal migration corridors to counter the trafficker networks that put people’s lives at risk. In this context they both signed a declaration of intention to hold technical talks between the two ministries and to prepare a memorandum of understanding in the near future that will cover issues of legal migration and ways to facilitate the repatriation of undocumented migrants.

Mitarachi invited Afridi to visit Greece in the coming months to continue their talks.

Both ministers presented the results of their meeting to the Pakistani prime minister, making a commitment to seek effective solutions on migration issues.

The Greek migration ministry said that the Pakistani prime minister expressed his satisfaction with the Greek approach and congratulated them on their intention to strengthen collaboration on matters of legal migration.

After the meeting, Mitarachi stated, among others, that “the government’s aim is to support legal migration to cover the needs of the Greek economy and at the same time to tackle irregular arrivals and return those who are not entitled to stay in Greece. We favour seasonal employment for up to nine months every year over long-term settlement”.