Tunis/Tunisia — A broader agenda for Tunisia to discuss many issues over the coming weeks and to implement all the plans made at the economic and bilateral levels was agreed on, said Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the end of the joint meeting held on Sunday in Carthage, with President Kais Saied, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy's Prime Minister Girogia Meloni.

Rutte further indicated that he had told Saied that "the Netherlands will send an economic mission as soon as possible to Tunisia to discuss energy, agriculture, water management and of course tourism, and to build on the bilateral cooperation in the development field."

"Migration was also on the meeting's agenda and we made an excellent agreement on this. We will work on this over the coming weeks and it is important indeed to kill that cynical business model of the boat smugglers. Migration is at this moment one of the most important issues facing all of us," he pointed out.

"I was very happy for the European agreement reached last Thursday in Luxemburg between the 27 member states in the European Commission but of course also the discussions now with Tunisia is also important and we can help each other. All will be done in full cooperation and full accordance with human rights," Rutte indicated.

"We have discussed this comprehensive package and we will now work on this over the coming weeks up to the European Council meeting at the end of June. The window is open, we all sense there is an opportunity to really foster this relationship between EU and Tunisia," he said.

"A lot of work is to be done but I'm very hopeful that we will achieve our goals on all the issues which we have worked on together," he concluded.