European and Latin American leaders vowed to cooperate in curbing illegal immigration as they closed the 16th Ibero-American summit on Sunday.

 

The leaders who participated in the summit pledged to control migration and fight the exploitation of immigrants, both legal and illegal.

 

The number of Latin American migrants working or living in countries other than their homeland were 25 million in 2005, up from 21 million in 2000, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

"This is the first time in the history of the Ibero-American community that a joint declaration has been reached on immigration," said Enrique Iglesias, head of the summit's general secretariat.

 

The three-day summit, which brought together the heads of state from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Equatorial Guinea, focused on migration, a topic that has been in the news because of the United States' decision to build an extensive wall along its border with Mexico in a bid to halt illegal migration.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2006)