The leaders committed in a draft plan drawn up for the summit to help African countries readmit people who are refused entry in Europe.
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The Malta summit will host more than 50 leaders from Europe and Africa, including Eritrea, Niger, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan, from which many migrants originate.
Iceland is invited to the Summit in its capacity as observer to the Rabat Process and the Khartoum Process, EU-African initiatives for dialogue and consultation on migration issues.
The network promotes synergies between actors from the North and South in order to reach a shared vision and analysis of such processes, in particular regarding the externalization of policies to manage migration flows, the detention of migrants and the increasing militarization of borders.
Attendees will discuss ideas about how to deal with the devastating consequences of people trying to enter Europe by unauthorised channels.
Processing asylum applications isn’t simple.
Hotspots have caused much debate since they were announced as new initial reception centres for migrants earlier this year.
“EU governments are reviewing over a million asylum applications between them, an all-time record number that would test any developed democracy”, the former Polish prime minister said in a speech to the Maltese parliament.
The impact of discussions includes political infighting and a relocation scheme which has redistributed just 147 Syrian and Eritrean asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other member states. This runs the risk of reinforcing inequality by stopping people from escaping conflict, poverty and instability to start a new life in Europe.
The applications of more than 770,000 people seeking worldwide protection in the EU were on hold in the month of September, according to the European Asylum Support Office.
“The system is now up and running – the first flight from Greece [has left] and there were already several flights from Italy – and we’re hoping that progress on the ground and progress with member states will be made swiftly”, Ernst told CNN last week.
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Other nations in the region also say that their resources are being stretched by the massive influx, even as bottlenecks have been worsened by Hungary closing its borders with Serbia and Croatia, forcing refugees to seek alternative routes. European Union officials have said that legal migration, for students and seasonal labour, could be increased in return for help cutting illegal migration. To achieve its aims, the European Union will use any means available. He is wanted by the global criminal court for crimes carried out in Darfur.
