Explainer: How does Italy’s migration deal with Albania work?

ROME, June 4 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit a site in Albania on Wednesday where her government plans to build a reception camp to house thousands of migrants picked up at sea.

Looking to curb migration to Italy, Meloni signed a deal with Albania last year to send some asylum-seekers to the Balkan country and process the asylum requests there.

Here are some facts about the plan.

The accord, agreed for an initial five years, foresees disembarking 36,000 migrants a year at the Albanian port of Shengjin, about 75 km (45 miles) south of the country’s capital, Tirana. Their cases will be processed at a centre being built at a nearby air base in Gjader, which can hold 3,000 people.