ROME: The governments of Italy and Libya signed an accord on Saturday that will see them performing joint sea patrols to crack down on human trafficking, Italy’s Interior Ministry said.

Under the agreement, signed in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Italy will supply six border police patrol boats which will be staffed by Italian and Libyan officials to survey the ports and beaches used as points of departure every year by thousands of boat people trying to enter the European Union.

“In this way it will be possible to confront this trafficking much more effectively, saving more human lives and defeating these criminal gangs,” Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said in a statement.

Thousands of people cross the Mediterranean from Libya every year, often in overcrowded, badly equipped boats, hoping to reach the shores of the EU in Italy or Malta.

They are often rescued at sea by passing boats or coastguard patrols.

The perilous sea crossing is usually the end of a much longer journey by land across Africa or from the Middle East.

Earlier this month more than 200 people crammed into a 16-metre long wooden fishing boat landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa.—Reuters