African countries, which participated in a consultative meeting here, have agreed to adopt a unified stance towards the issue of illegal immigration, the Egyptian assistant foreign minister said on Thursday.

The unified African stance will be discussed at a senior officials meeting due to be held in Malta on February 8-9, Ambassador Hesham Badr said.

He added that the conferees came up with a number of recommendations on means of implementing the Valletta Action Plan and benefiting from the EU trust fund.

"After more than a year of the Valletta Summit on migration, which was held in November 2015, it is disappointing to say that implementing the Valletta Action Plan and benefiting from the the EU trust fund have faced several challenges," Badr said.

Egypt, the current head of the EU-Horn of Africa Migration Route Initiative, hosted the two-day meeting, which wrapped up its activities earlier in Hurghada.

Source: MENA