ROME, July 6 (Xinhua) -- African and EU foreign ministers have agreed on a new scheme to manage migration, the Italian foreign ministry announced at the close of an Italy-chaired conference here on Thursday.
Participants have agreed that the way forward is to provide legal alternatives for people who turn to human traffickers, to make it easier for people to return to their homelands, and to enhance border controls.
The new scheme expected to go into effect in February 2018 includes measures to "assist migrants and refugees in transit countries" and to improve "existing channels of regular migration," according to the ministers' final declaration tweeted by the Italian foreign ministry.
Under the new scheme, participating countries agreed to back UN refugee agency (UNHCR) "activities to ensure effective and safe access to asylum" and to "provide legal alternatives to onward movements -- including asylum seekers stranded in transit countries -- with the support of the international community."
Measures also include speeding up voluntary returns, swiftly issuing travel documents to people stranded in transit countries in Africa, and giving them assistance in reintegrating into their homelands.
The conference was attended by several African and EU foreign ministers.
Also present were EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief William Lacy Swing, and the United Nations special representative for international migration Louise Arbour.
Italy faces continuous arrivals of tens of thousands of people fleeing war and famine in Africa and the Middle East via unseaworthy boats run by human traffickers.
Most of the vessels leave from Libya, with Italy as the nearest European landfall on the so-called Central Mediterranean route.
In a bilateral meeting held with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano prior to the conference, his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian said "our action must relate to Libya first and foremost."
In a statement released by the French embassy in Rome after the bilateral meeting, Le Drian said solving the situation in Libya, where two governments are at odds with each other, is "our priority, Europe's priority, not just the priority of Italy and France."
A UNHCR study released Monday found that Libya is by far the preferred jumping off point for refugees and migrants hoping to reach Europe, in spite of the fact that it is particularly unsafe for them.
"The foreign nationals going to Libya are part of mixed migration flows, meaning that people with different backgrounds and motivations travel together along the same routes," UNHCR wrote. "They include refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, unaccompanied minors, environmental migrants, victims of trafficking and stranded migrants."
At least 2,030 people have died or gone missing in the attempt to reach Europe so far this year, with the greatest number of fatalities occurring along the Central Mediterranean route through Libya, according to UNHCR.
Thursday's conference came on the heels of a plan to curb migrant arrivals that Italy, France and Germany hammered out on July 3.
