British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed Italian premier Giorgia Meloni’s approach to tackling illegal migration Saturday, in a visit to Rome where they agreed to co-fund a project to help migrants return home from Tunisia.

The two leaders held formal talks at Meloni’s office and the British Conservative leader also delivered a speech at a gathering of her far-right Brothers of Italy party.

Both leaders have vowed to stop migrant boat landings on their country’s shores and in his speech, Sunak hailed the willingness of them both to “break from consensus”.

They have also both faced strong criticism for their policies, from Sunak’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, to Meloni’s moves to limit the activities of charity rescue ships in the Mediterranean.

At their meeting, Sunak and Meloni agreed to fund a project to help repatriations of migrants in Tunisia, the departure country for many migrants trying to reach Europe.

They “committed to co-fund a project to promote and assist the voluntary return of migrants from Tunisia to their countries of origin”, Downing Street said.

Meloni’s office said this would be in line with existing UN projects, without giving further details.

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