EU, Pakistan discuss cooperation on managing refugee flow

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday said she discussed with Pakistan the need to cooperate on managing refugee flows from the country.

Mogherini made the remarks ahead of the ongoing foreign ministers' meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which gathered over 50 foreign ministers and officials from European and Asian countries, Xinhua reported.

Noting a meeting on Wednesday with Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to the Pakistani prime minister on national security and foreign affairs, Mogherini said they discussed "not only the situation in the region, the security situation developments in Afghanistan, but also the migration flows coming to Europe partially also from Pakistan".

She said there was the need to cooperate between the EU and Pakistan on managing these flows better, including agreements for return and re-admission.

"We already have a bilateral agreement between the EU and Pakistan for return and re-admission. The point is the smooth implementation of the agreements," she said.

"I found readiness and willingness to cooperate in an operational way and to make sure that returns are happening for real and this is something that we will follow up in the coming weeks to make sure that this happens," she said.

According to the UNHCR, Pakistan hosts almost 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees -- still the largest protracted refugee population globally.