LONDON, June 25: British Home Secretary David Blunkett is holding meetings with senior French authorities in the latest bid by the British government to close a controversial refugee camp.

The Sangatte refugee camp near Calais (France) has received a lot of media coverage in recent months as 1,500 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq, have been stranded there for the a number of years.

The Sangatte camp has become a big issue between Britain and France and now the two countries want to solve the problem once for all.

The British government wants the camp to be closed while the French authorities have been reluctant to do so.

The French are worried that closing down the camp would mean asylum seekers travelling from France into Britain would be returned to France for their applications to be processed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair also discussed the future of the camp with French President Jacques Mr Chirac over dinner in Paris last Wednesday.