Country to receive around 150 refugees from Egyptian camps
In November Portugal is due to receive around 150 refugees currently living in Egypt, which will be the first portion of a group of over 1,000 people expected to take up residence in Portugal by 2019.
The internal administration minister said on Thursday evening that in November Portugal shall receive around 150 refugees currently living in Egypt. This will be the first portion of a group of over 1,000 people expected to take up residence in Portugal by 2019, according to the minister.
“In November we will receive, from Egypt, around one hundred and fifty refugees who were the focus of an initial selection mission conducted in June,” minister Eduardo Cabrita told Lusa after attending a conference on migration in Vienna.
As part of the European relocation programme, approved in 2017 by the European Commission, Portugal said it could take in over 1,000 refugees currently in refugee camps in Egypt and Tunisia by the end of 2019.
Inspectors from Portugal’s Foreigners and Borders Service, along with a team from the High Commission on Migration, carried out a mission in June in Egypt for contact and interviews with around 150 refugees due to arrive in Portugal in November.
Cabrita added that this year there would be further missions to Egypt and, for the first time, to Turkey.
“These refugees are from third countries and they were selected by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and by the International Migration Organisation,” he said.
LUSA
